Lovely orange balls of snowdrop pollen

[gavin]

A couple of pictures of snowdrop pollen coming in this lunchtime in Perthshire. No doubting the excitement of the bees discovering the season's first new crop of life-giving protein. They were queuing up at the drifts of snowdrops just across the orchard, but elsewhere on the estate there was masses of the stuff for the bees brave enough to travel a few hundred metres.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/snowdrops%20hive2sm.jpg

This bee has frayed wings and is presumably from last autumn's cohort.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/snowdrops%20pollen3sm.jpg


More pictures in the blog (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?209-Snowdrop-frenzy-at-the-apiary).

[Neils]

I really like the first one

[gavin]

Nicked the idea from Calum who posted similar last year. Switch the camera to manual focus, set to 15cm or so and fairly wide angle, hold the camera near the entrance pointing up, and take lots of pics in case a few look OK. There's more of the type in the blog.

Showed them tonight at a talk at the Dundee Friends of the Botanic Garden and may have a couple more signed up to our beginners class starting next week.

[Bridget]

Great photos- I had to rush out to check my little patch of snowdrops and bees. Lots of bees are out and about, and there have been some flying most days this week, it's 10 degrees but feeling colder in the wind. None on the snowdrops though so not sure what they are up to. Can't see any pollen on their legs and surely there is nothing else for them round here.

[gavin]

There might be some hazel out near you and they'll take that. Temperatures are probably heading down the way for a few days, but just a degree or two up on what you had today and they'd be working snowdrops.

Nobody fancy doing morphometry on that wing?! It is a fairly brown-looking individual with long hairs on the abdomen.

[Rosie]

It might be camera angle but CI measured 1.56 and DSA -14!:) Thought she looked a nice, black, hairy lass.

Rosie

[Jon]

It might be camera angle but CI measured 1.56 and DSA -14!:) Thought she looked a nice, black, hairy lass.

Rosie

LOL Steve. Great minds think alike. I could see that the DS was well negative and I would have measured it properly had I been at home and near a scanner.

Gav, you really need to get a few proper samples before the queen rearing season starts in a couple of months. If you stick them in the post I will do them for you next weekend. Even dead bees from the floor will let you know if you have something interesting or complete rubbish from a native bee point of view.

[gavin]

Thanks guys. Hairy, dark, thick-set, Scottish lassies it is then. Perhaps two of my stocks might be something near the native ideal and presumably this bee came from one of them. The others look like they have a part Carniolan heritage, and derive from Drone Ranger's stocks, once removed via a mutual friend. Maybe the last picture on the blog is from one of them, pale hairs and broader tomentum bands. But yes, I should either check them myself or take Jon up on his offer. I have a fresh sample from two colonies at the association apiary site - the two colonies belonging to our host rather than the seven small association colonies. Mibbae this weekend ...

[Troutnabout]

In addition to the orange snowdrop pollen, mine have been bringing in some light lemon and dirty yellow pollen. The bees are foraging in local gardens, any ideas on what the lemon and yellow stuff is?

[Gscot]

I Managed to Get 2 out of 3 hives through the winter. One died out 2 days after treating with O.A.Bringing in orange and light green pollen at the moment .Think its snowdrop and alder catkins."Is this a good sign that the Queens are O.K.?" Looking forward to the fishing season myself .