Gathering pollen in November?

Today, 14th November, was mild and sunny so it was not a surprise to see a few bees coming out to enjoy the last of the sunshine. However that is our perspecive; the bees are simply programmed to seek pollen or nectar whenever the outside temperatures allow. Normally during winter months that would be a problem as they would waste their energies flying around because there is almost no food for find.

But to my surprise, I could see that one hive - and only one - was bringing in pollen.  One of their scouts must have found something still in flower and advised the rest of them to follow as there was far more activity on that hive than any of the others. The pollen was bright yellow otherwise I would have said it was our borage patch that is still managing a few flowers in spite of the frosts.

Amazing stuff. For the other bees I am still a little concerned that these mild days just result in them having to use more of their winter sugar stores to compensate for the wasted journeys.......... but at least they will have been able to go to the loo.