I'm 50 miles south of Aberdeen ... it's dark, cold and thoroughly inhospitable there (!) ... but there's a lot more than 2 hours of sunlight in January.

Today sunrise is 8:15, sunset ~16:30 (GMT) and a lovely sunny day after some overnight frost and snow.

Aberdeen is a fair sized city so any urban bees have access to the usual 'exotics' grown by gardeners. However, in rural locations pollen is limited in the winter. Gorse will yield a bit (and there's always some in flower), early snowdrops and crocus do as well. It's usually too cold for bees to exploit much from ivy late in the season so there's a 6-10 week window when very little pollen is available, even if conditions were suitable for foraging.

Here at 56°N we usually get a brood break in mid/late November through until near the end of the year. Not always, but sufficiently dependably that I treat with oxalic acid well before the solstice most winters.

With apologies to any Aberdonians reading the first line ;-)

David

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