Spring is on wing as queen bees begin feasting
SIGNS of spring are in abundance. Purple swathes of crocuses are in bloom at Northumberland’s Wallington Hall, snow and ice is receding above the highland glens and the east coast bays are mill-pond calm.
Twice this week I have spotted the portly form of Bombus terrestris, aka the buff-tailed bumblebee, and as sure an indication as any that warm weather is in the ascendancy.
These bees I have seen are most likely the queens, who have spent the winter hibernating in a hole in the ground. They emerge at the end of February having not eaten a decent meal since the previous summer.
So they hoover up whatever pollen and nectar they can find. The pollen is what expands the queen’s ovaries and allow her to begin forming a colony.
I find the sight of the bees resonates so deeply within me because they have so much that lies ahead of them during the year to come.
They must build a honeycomb kingdom and remain in command of tens of thousands of subjects. If the worker bees grow unhappy with their queen they can – and do – overthrow her at any time.
I learnt this once on a bee-keeping course where I discovered above all that I wished never to be in charge of my own hive – oh, the responsibility.
“What happens when they swarm?” I hesitantly asked the instructor in between being shown slides of livid bee stings. Apparently, you “simply” collect all 30,000 of them in a basket from the nearest tree. Fat chance.
No, the bees are better left to nature’s direction. And I reserve my own pleasure in seeing them feed off the early season flowers in bloom in my front garden.
This weekend, grey skies drift in for many, with patchy rain in between brighter spells. A piffling interlude, just keep an eye out for the bees, droning and dreaming of spring.