A few days ago Liz Day reminded us about blue pollen. Whilst watching my bees bringing in pollen yesterday (SE England) I saw, among all the orange and yellows, a single load of bright red. It was very striking - about the colour of a ripe tomato. I referred to Dorothy Hodges' book. The only possibility from her list was Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) although her colours were rather duller than the colour as I remember it. Certainly, Red Deadnettle is out in abundance at the moment and is frequently visited by honeybees. However, I've always thought that their main interest was nectar. I suppose it is possible the pollen came from some exotic garden plant but there can't be many of them in flower at present. The weather is still quite cold. We were having sleet and hail only a few days ago. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------------------------