Christmas week and the bees in Dalkey are busy

Its hard to believe its Christmas week and the shortest day of the year and it was 14 degrees today in Dalkey. The bees were pretty busy, not as busy as last week but still plenty of them out collecting nectar and pollen.The Coronilla in Dalkey is in full flower since the end of November and should flower right through until the start of the summer. I've discovered that its a great plant for the bees, offering an abundance of pollen and nectar through-out the winter and spring. The pollen is a light yellow color and you can see the pollen baskets on the bees packed with it.This picture shows better the what it looks like, growing to about 3 feet with a similar spread. It appears to be pretty hardy and has no problem seeding itself around the place.You can read more on it here www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=2525There were also plenty of bees out working the last of the ivy...