Hallo All

Today was a beautiful sunny day here in Hampshire after several cloudy but
fairly mild days. Early this afternoon we saw the first queen Bombus terrestris
audax of the spring foraging for nectar on snowdrops in the churchyard at Upper
Froyle, Hampshire (SU756428). Fine and sunny with a temperature of about 8C.
There were also ~20 hive bees Apis mellifera collecting pollen (orange) on the
snowdrops. In adjacent gardens there were other hive bees collecting pollen
(yellow) from winter aconites. A few hive bees on winter heathers and species
crocus flowers.

The last 5 B.terrestris queens were seen at Windsor Great Park on 11 Dec 2010
and a single worker from a late autumn nest at Yateley also on 11 Dec 2010.

Spring is on the way at last!

Steve
19:45 Tuesday 8 Feb 2011
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