Can we lay this one to rest please once and for all.
Heather. You need a properly managed heather moor for real Ling take. Find the moor, and ask the game keeper.
A wee patch of ling/bell here and there is no use at all.
When I talk about going to the heather I mean a grouse moor and I am located so there are corries and slopes facing in four directions so there is every chance one will flow.
I have said this times and say again the 12th of August is a piece of nonsense.
I have been at the Aberdeen honey show, some 450 members please note, and the moan is no heather. I had a ton in the honey house. For precisely the above reason, I was there in time, namely 21st of July or even earlier depending on my offshore schedule.
The bees need the right situation for a good chance. Shelter... denoted by bracken, a Bee Farmer told me Juniper is a good sign, and burnt strips. Why?
Burning produces young heather for the grouse chicks, and regardless of blood sport views, young heather produces the best flows. years two and three give the best.
Hope this helps.
PH