Snowdrops, Helleborus and winter aconites are in bloom right now.
Today, it was warm enough for taking off that winter jacket. It was also warm enough for our bees to come out of their hive in numbers. We were so very happy to see them. Not every year do the bees survive the winter, but this year, they did!
Bees at the entrance to the hive. Some were feeding their sisters, probably with fresh nectar from some of the flowers nearby.
Some winter aconite flowers had opened a few days earlier right in front of the hive. At first they had no visitors.
Visitors of the winter aconites. The one on the bottom left corner pretends to be a bee. It is, however a hover fly. The others are indeed bees from our hive.
Now, however, bees (and a fly) were busy drinking nectar and collecting a little pollen from these lovely yellow flowers.
Most bees seemed to come home to the hive from further away. None of them brought back a lot of pollen. There is just not much blooming right now, although in the plantings nearby, daffodils had opened their flowers almost over night. Unfortunately, these daffodils, bred by us humans for large colorful flowers, are not very attractive to any pollinator. Bees seem to mostly ignore them. Hopefully, other flowers will open soon and provide the pollen that our bees need to raise their larval sisters.
Daffodils are not very attractive to pollinators. But crocus are.