Colour in the snow

Today was the day when the entire country turned white. On days like this you know that the bees will be fine, tucked up in a ball keeping warm inside their brood box. This is a day for kids throwing snowballs and taking a moment to wonder at the different and beautiful the world looks in snow (although the brown slushy roads and a nightmare if you need to travel). I was admiring the garden and watching the birds perched in branches, all puffed up, when I suddenly spotted this flash of yellow. The cheiranthus cheiri (native wallflower) is flowering, now, in the middle of this cold patch. It barely even looks wilted by the cold or bowed down by the snow. The colour is a real contrast to everything around it.

This will now keep flowering til April providing pollen and nectar all that time for the warmer days when the bees decide to pop out.