iN PHOTOS: Warm weather brings blooms and busy bees in Kamloops, Okanagan

A spell of warm spring weather has brought out flowery blooms in Kamloops and the Okanagan, and the bees are getting busy.

Last week, the bees at Murray Willis’ apiary in Kamloops emerged from their winter bee boxes to start collecting pollen.

“They’re doing good, they had a pretty good winter, the winter was milder so the losses were less for most bee keepers in the area,” he said. “Pollen is a week earlier than last spring, the bees are bringing in pollen for the queen to start thinking about creating the next brood.”

Temperatures are not high enough yet for Willis to gather a lot of information on bee health including the presence of mites. The bees are still slow and going back into their boxes overnight when the temperatures dip.

Photographers in the area are capturing the first busy bees tucked into flowers collecting pollen.

If you have photos of bees or flowers you want to share, send them to news@infonews.ca.

A bee curls around a flower stamen in Vernon. | Credit: SUBMITTED/ Sylvia Voets

A bee collects pollen from a crocus in Kamloops. | Credit: SUBMITTED/ Murray Willis

This bee bum is covered in pollen in a flower in Salmon Arm. | Credit: SUBMITTED/ Beth Anderson

A bee collects pollen from a bloom in Castlegar. | Credit: SUBMITTED/ Yanive Feiner

Two bees work to gather pollen in a back yard in Kamloops. | Credit: SUBMITTED/ Deb Ross Sharkey

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