Lesmahagow is a market town in the Nethan Water valley, set in a landscape of mixed arable and pasture farmland on the south-western fringe of the Clyde valley. The town is built around an historic priory site — founded in the twelfth century — and retains a compact stone town centre above the Nethan gorge, whose steep woodland walls carry oak, ash and hawthorn in some of the most sheltered wild forage in the area. The surrounding fields carry oilseed rape in spring and white clover on the improved grassland through summer; the Nethan valley woodlands below the town add sycamore and elder to the forage calendar. Himalayan balsam is establishing along the Nethan Water corridor, and the higher ground above the valley toward Auchenheath and Kirkmuirhill carries gorse and bramble on the rougher field margins.
Collectors attend swarms in the Nethan gorge oak and ash woodland below the town, on the oilseed rape field margins and hawthorn hedgerows of the surrounding mixed farmland, in the gorse and bramble of the rough field margins on the higher ground above the valley, along the himalayan balsam and elder of the Nethan Water corridor, and in the chimney stacks and eave voids of the older stone properties around the town square and Academy Road.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 97 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 114 km
CA12 4NT· approx. 125 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Sycamore is the dominant May flow tree throughout South Lanarkshire, heaviest on road margins, estate policies and river gorge woodlands. The Carluke orchard belt adds cherry and apple blossom in April, earlier than most of Scotland. Hawthorn and blackthorn on the Clydesdale field hedgerows extend the spring flow through late April and May. White clover is the main mid-summer crop on the improved grasslands of the Clyde and Avon valleys, peaking in June and July. Himalayan balsam is heavy along the Clyde between Cambuslang and Lanark from July to September. The upper ground above Strathaven, Lanark and Biggar carries heather and bilberry from late July on the Southern Uplands fringe, giving migratory beekeepers access to an upland crop. Bramble is prolific on former colliery and quarry sites across the region; ivy closes the foraging year on estate walls and stone houses in October.
More on beekeeping in South LanarkshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
