I went outside at about 1pm and looked at the apple trees which are in full bloom. Stunning. There were about 2 bees. I was very concerned. Then an hour later I took another look and there were hundreds of bees.
My question is do bees have some temperature below which they do not venture out.
There are still few bumbles so do they need a higher temperature.
Yes. They can't fly if their body temperature falls below 10C (50F). And since their only method of warming themselves up is muscular activity, going out in the cold night air is literally suicidal! At 7C they become completely immobile.
My beekeeping books tell me that bees are "poikilothermic", which I repeat simply because it's such a wonderful word.
ETA: I don't have any info on bumbles, but you do see them in colder conditions, so maybe their minimum flying temperature is a degree or so colder.
10C. That would be it. The temperature just rose briefly into the teens.
There are now only bees on the leeward side of the trees.
Yes..bumbles cope with lower temperature..that's why they are hairier too.
Although honey bees had pollination 'power' with their numbers..bumbles are so important pollinators because they are able to perform when honey bees won't venture outdoors.
At the moment the apple tree seem to be favoured by the honey bees. Someone locally must have a hive because in recent years they have been in very short supply so it is nice to see them back. The bumbles are still going after the things much lower down, I think they do not like the cold wind.
I suppose that I tend to take the bees for granted. I should be more interested.
It's very much a matter of temperature at this time of year. Most of the day this week they haven't been flying, but if the sun comes out it's not long before I see some activity.
We have a couple of quite large apple trees, so at this time of year they are normally buzzing withe bees. However they also normally produce far too many apples so fewer will not be a problem. In fact picking off the excess has become something of a chore.