Feeding the bees in winter
2018-08-29
Bumblebee Conservation Trust - Posted on December 13, 2016
This is a guest article written by Peter Lawrence, a Trust member and keen gardener. Here, Peter gives us a run-down of his best plants for bumblebees in winter. As Peter points out, bumblebees are becoming increasingly active in the winter months when they would normally be hibernating. If you spot a bumblebee this winter, you can report it to BWARS for their special survey on winter-active bumblebees.
One group of plants that can flower from summer and well into autumn are the calaminths (Calamintha). They will provide food for the new queens before they go into hibernation.
But as we move into autumn, November can be a tricky month for flowering plants. The ivy is still flowering in some places well into late November, and that can be a great source of pollen and nectar. Indeed the ivy bee (Colletes hederae) relies on the food from ivy flowers. This species is a recent arrival to England and we have them in our garden well into November.
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