After months of cold, rain, ice and snow the bees were released from lockdown today and were out in their thousands. Although we are officially still in winter it felt like spring and there were hundreds of bees on the snowdrops. All four of my hives were very busy, suggesting they have come through the winter in good condition. It will be weeks before I can check on them but it was a delight to see bees all over the garden.
The bees get covered in pollen and spend a lot of time grooming to pack it into their pollen baskets. Here you can see the pollen brush on the inside of each basitarsus on the back legs and the partly filled corbiculae on the outside of each tibia.
The bee rubs the brushes together as part of the process of moving the pollen into the corbiculae.
All this happens while the bee is hanging from the flower by its toenails (not a technical term!).
Your posts and photographs are fantastic. Have you done a post in the past on how you get these pictures, and any guidance for those of us who'd like to try? Or are you planning to?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good idea Archie. I'll give it some thought. I have written about how I d things on my main blog but not specifically about bees. Thanks for the suggestion.
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