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  1. #11
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    Clearest I ever have seen was from fushia in Lerwick, water white and I did read a P&J through it.

    PH

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bridget View Post
    What colour is the williwherb pollen

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    I learned recently on here and then by investigating the plants that it's a sort of light blue/grey. Big grains that feel unusual between your fingers.

    I have noticed that most RBWH flowers don't seem to have pollen on them - wonder if it is short lived somehow - so my bees although feeding on it in big numbers at the moment only seem to be bringing nectar back, mostly.

    Clover pollen on the other hand is a muddy brown.

  3. #13
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Out walking on Wednesday and I came across a huge patch of flowering RBWH, an acre in size or more. It looked fantastic. It was alive with bumble bees. Didn't see a single honey bee on it, despite there being colonies well within range. I'm not aware of other forage that would be 'distracting' the honey bees at the moment. I wonder whether it yields nectar in a way that makes it more attractive to bumble bees?

  4. #14

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    Purple white and yellow pollen coming in so they are finding some flowers
    Must make up some slides haven't done that for ages and it is good fun
    There never seems to be enough time the season is so short

  5. #15
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    Rather thought I was up to speed on acronyms but what is RBWH please?


    PH

  6. #16

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    Rose Bay Willow Herb

  7. #17
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jambo View Post
    I learned recently on here and then by investigating the plants that it's a sort of light blue/grey. Big grains that feel unusual between your fingers.

    I have noticed that most RBWH flowers don't seem to have pollen on them - wonder if it is short lived somehow - so my bees although feeding on it in big numbers at the moment only seem to be bringing nectar back, mostly.

    Clover pollen on the other hand is a muddy brown.
    We do have RBWH round here but not that close that I am aware of and it's not been out quite long enough. However I did find some of the big blue grey grains of pollen, that you were talking about, on the varroa tray yesterday so they are bringing it in now.


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  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    Out walking on Wednesday and I came across a huge patch of flowering RBWH, an acre in size or more. It looked fantastic. It was alive with bumble bees. Didn't see a single honey bee on it, despite there being colonies well within range. I'm not aware of other forage that would be 'distracting' the honey bees at the moment. I wonder whether it yields nectar in a way that makes it more attractive to bumble bees?
    Interesting isn't it - I observe the same around here sometimes. I also notice that when you do see both honey bees and bumbles on it, the bumbles seem to go methodically from flower to flower, whereas the honeybess are much more choosy. Either they're nutters or they have an extra sense that tells them whether each one is worth bothering with or not. Maybe what you saw was this on a whole field scale?

    The Hive Alive programme that was on BBC2 recently had an interesting section in it about honey bees possibly being able to sense electrical charges of flowers which vary depending on their nectar content.

  9. #19
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Honey and bumble bees scent mark visited flowers with a short-lived 'smell' which prevents them revisiting recently visited flowers. The honey bee stuff was published >20 years ago (I'm not really familiar with the literature in this area) but there's been a recent paper on bumble bees which shows they can discriminate between flowers marked by the same species and nest mates.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5339730/

    I'm playing hookey today and walked past the same patch of RBWH late this morning. Again, thick with B. terrestris and B. pascuorum, but not a single honey bee.

    No wonder my supers are so empty!

  10. #20

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    Interesting thanks Fatshark.

    Maybe your bees are just lazy!

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