One thing that I was excited about in coming back to China was catching some bee action. There is a different species of honeybee here – the Eastern honeybee or Apis cerana. I keep a photo gallery of bees from my travels as well as contributions from site visitors. I have a few from my time in Hunan province. Sadly, in the 5 months in 2011 and the 2 months in 2012 I spent in China’s tropical Hainan, I only saw bees once, and I didn’t have my camera with me. But today on a walk in northern Nanjing, I not only came across a massive and impressive spread of urban community gardens, but I spotted a honeybee picking up some autumn nectar as well as some pollen. Check her out below:
Oooooh, look at those blossoms! And beeees! In November!
It’s a cold, grey day where I am, so this is a real treat to see.
I hear you! I was completely surprised to see them myself. Our nights are quite cool and the days vary between cool with clouds and cool with sun. It is surprising anything is producing nectar at this time of year. I’m only just learning about this particular part of the world, so I’ll bet I’m in for a lot more surprises