Still wood anemones are beautiful and giving pollen, though bees are now more interested in other sources.
This is an early season, really. And beautiful. Chilly frosty nights but nice and sunny days. Solar wax melter works.
Dandelions are starting to bloom at sunny road sides. It’s very early. Watch out for its honey, it crystallizes quick, like canola honey.
Dandelions, maple, cowslip are weeks early, while wood anemone is still giving pollen. Dandelions and maple are valuable for nectar and pollen. Some years even giving surplus. Dandelion honey is like canola honey crystallizes quick and hard.
The chairman of our local bee club is fortunate with maple just in front of the two splits from last year that made it through winter just fine. Winter was mild in Sweden and winter losses very low this year, where varroa hasn’t been too many in the hives. The maple is maybe three weeks early. usually when it blooms in Sweden the weather is bad. We’ll see what happens this year.
Cowslip I’ve seen being visited just one day by the bees during their bloom. And the year after the bees were at the place for the first time, the amount of cowslip had increased substantially. Wood anemone is beautiful early in spring and gives only pollen, but as soon as the bees find other sources they go for them. The amount of birch pollen in the air in Sweden is now all time high.
Cowslip make well use of the pollination services of honeybees, even if they just visit them during one day of their bloom.