The end of lockdown

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!).

Braving the cold

After a severe frost last night the temperature at midday today was 0℃.  The weather was calm and sunny and two of my hives face south and were in full sun.  I was surprised to see a few bees flying and when I went over to investigate I saw a few sunbathers.  They seemed to emerge one or two at a time and stayed out for only a few minutes.  Most walked around near the entrance but several took off for a fly around.  They were gone for more than minute or two but I don't know how far they went or what they were up to.

Because it is warm and dark in the middle of the cluster in the hive I suppose it makes sense to send a few volunteers down each day to see what the weather is like, otherwise the bees wouldn't know.  I expect on a wet and windy day they never get as far as the front door and just go back to bed.  Maybe the flyers had gone to look at the snowdrops only to find they are buried in snow.

I noticed one bee with disconnected front and back wings.  I assumed it had a problem but it took off without difficulty.  I have heard/read that K wing deformity can be a symptom of tracheal mites or nosema but I don't know how specific a sign it is.

The forecast looks better next week so I hope the snow will have gone and the bees will be on the snowdrops.