The weather this late winter, as we all know, has been generally horrid, with endless rain and swollen rivers flooding everywhere.
However, this weekend we have seen very mild temperatures with the occasional absence of showers, so with plenty of flowers now in bloom in the parks and the cemetery, I knew it would be a good time to go bee hunting.
I was rewarded by my first honeybee and bumblebee close encounters in consecutive days.
It was the castle crocuses the honeybees were enjoying on Saturday, on the wing as the grounds were being archaeologically excavated by the gateway. They looked so fresh and new, and very hungry as they went from flower to flower drinking up the nectar for minutes at a time.
Today, it was a walk through the cemetery, now carpeted in crocuses as it is - stunningly - every year. As soon as I looked down, a stonking great buff tailed bumblebee queen was working through the flowers, tail as buff as it could be.
It's days like this I wait for from the beginning of October, and to cap it off I was able to enjoy an 8km run. There's life in me yet!
Si
All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.02.24
The seasons seem to be galloping ahead this year, though a lot of the fields around here are under water.
ReplyDeleteInteresting photos as usual - I have plenty of crocus out but as they are at the top of my garden and I can no longer get up there I have no idea whether there are honey bees on them, but I do hope so.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos as ever from you. We saw our first honeybee last week too. Crocuses are out in the nearby parks, and saw lots of star of the snows on roadsides around here on a recent bike ride out.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing quite like a fat bumble bees bum covered in pollen!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, especially the bumble bee head first in the crocus!
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