Local bees enjoy Mahonia flowers.

The link explains:

"From the 1990s onwards, bumblebees have been recorded actively flying and foraging through the November-February period. Several species have been reported, although most have been queens in February and are likely to represent queens emerging early from hibernation. For the Buff-tailed bumblebee, however, queens and workers have been seen actively foraging from October right through to March, collecting pollen as well as nectar, and males (and mating pairs) have been seen in early spring. Occasionally, the nests themselves have even been found."

The link given in the piece takes you to one which comments:

"Foraging bumblebees are normally associated with spring and summer in northern Europe. However, there have been sightings of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris during the warmer winters in recent years in southern England. But what floral resources are they relying upon during winter and how much winter forage can they collect?"

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0009559 

RHS on Mahonia

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/mahonia 

Right on cue - I was out for a walk this morning and a bumblebee zoomed past. Not sure what it was visiting - plenty of gorse in flower though I've not seen bumbles on that,  some dandelions which they do like, and mahonia in gardens but not close to where I saw it.

Also seen, hazel catkins blowing.

Our tigers want your Christmas trees

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jed79d02wo 

A queen buff-tailed bumble bee was giving the said honeysuckle a good going-over this morning.

It's generally the queen bumblebees that overwinter. Some are dormant - but a some spp like the buff-tailed bb do keep going. In recent years they seem to have started laying and bringing on workers and even males, starting the reproductive cycle earlier. Wintering queens will already have mated, so they can start things going on their own. The issue is temperature, which in turn affects activity and food. Wintering bumblebees can tolerate quite adverse conditions, as this article describes.

Sleeping bumblebees can survive underwater for a week

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2427117-sleeping-bumblebees-can-survive-underwater-for-a-week/ 

Adorable seal pup expressions caught on camera

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clymndldn13o 

Yes  Roger and it didn't take me long to find this article with the word. Plenty more.

https://harpersbazaar.com.au/royal-family-nicknames/ 

And 'sweet' is another one. What is it with hacks? Eleanor Maslin you should know better and that goes for your editor too.

Yuck. 

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/seals-might-look- adorable-theyll-take-fingers-off-youre-not-careful-experts-warn-202750

Foxes caught frolicking with snowman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0y8rreq2do 

Two Grinches hard at work as well.

https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/bee.jpg 

Yup, sure enough it's a bee. Bear in mind the air temperature was just 0.7, having been below freezing all night, and there's very little liquid water anywhere - goodness only knows how it managed it, but it seemed to be oblivious to the wintry conditions. 

I guess that's a queen bee? 

I posted this link above: its a Buff-tailed bumblebee queen I think, Darren.

"Someone asked me about buff-tailed bumblebees they had seen foraging this winter. Here's Bumblebee Conservation on the subject."

Winter active bumblebees

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/winter-active-bumblebees/ 

Also see:

Sleeping bumblebees can survive underwater for a week

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2427117-sleeping-bumblebees-can-survive-underwater-for-a-week/  

I read the link you posted (and back when you posted it too), but I'd assumed it was more a "bees flying around on a mild spring-like day, with temperatures in double figures" sort of thing. Seeing a bee when it's barely above freezing, following 18 hours below freezing - that was quite shocking to me! Perhaps it's entirely normal, but I can't say I've noticed it before. 

I knew you'd know the species just by looking! There are several of them nesting in the ground in that part of the garden, and I suspect the queen (assuming it was a queen) wasn't far away from her home. Thinking about it, I'm more impressed that she'd not been frozen *into* the ground - it really is like concrete out there now.

Unlike honey bees, bumblebee colonies can have multiple queens. 

R.

"The wisdom of the crowd"

The Zooniverse is the world's largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers—millions of people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.

Anyone can be a researcher.

https://www.zooniverse.org/about 

https://www.zooniverse.org/projects 

Hidden cameras reveal what hedgehogs really get up to after dark

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdjnr7lr7pzo 

Anyway Hedgehogs. Mine's probably in hibernation. Interesting about the proportions in the countryside and urban areas. Are badgers partly responsible for those overall lower rural numbers? From what little I know Yes. Before Christmas 'mine' seemed to throw a tantrum and pushed the plastic pot all over the place when I forgot to put some pellets inside. It used to just poke its head in and eat them there and there and then go off and have a dig in the border edges.

Our local hedgehog rescue people will not rehome hogs to gardens with badgers for exactly this reason. We have a clip of 2 hogs charging each other in a head-on fight. 

This piece on the historical Lincolnshire landscape, seems to fit here best.

The exhibition, titled called Beneath Big Skies, is open until Sunday 31 May.

Oil paintings capture rural life in Lincolnshire

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew8zjdxl20o 

Parking in uphill Lincoln may be disrupted by street closures so check this link for info on parking:

Free one-hour parking during roadworks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2w5jjn7k3o 

Opening times

You can visit the museum Friday to Tuesday between 10am and 4pm (last entry 3.45pm).

Museum of Lincolnshire Life

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/history-heritage/museum-lincolnshire-life 

Polar bears on Norwegian islands fatter and healthier despite ice loss, scientists say

Adapting well to changing conditions due to climate change

"Wetland Bird Survey data show the range of sites where the two races winter, and it is estimated that 10,000–12,000 Greenland White-fronts and 1,000–2,000 Russian White-fronts spend the winter months here in the UK."

RSPB White-fronted Goose

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/white-fronted-goose 

BTO White-fronted Goose

https://www.bto.org/learn/about-birds/birdfacts/white-fronted-goose 

Good sites just now:  Deeping Lakes, Deeping St James; Frampton Marsh, Rimac, Saltfleetby/Theddlethorpe, Huttoft Bank, Willow Tree Fen.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserves.  

https://www.lincstrust.org.uk/nature-reserves 

Dog friendly reserves info:

https://www.lincstrust.org.uk/get-involved/visitor-information/dog-walkers 

RSPB Lincolnshire - Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore. Allows dogs - see guidelines.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/frampton-marsh 

Is this Britain's most unusual job? National Trust ranger Nick Dunnett spends his days combing the cellars of Lincolnshire's Tattershall Castle looking for a protected species likened to a "mini dinosaur".

His target in the 15th Century attraction near Sleaford is the great crested newt.

A very large breeding population can be found in the moat and surrounding land.

"The water in the moats provides opportunities for courtship displays, breading, egg laying and the development of young newts," says Nick.

'I evict newts from a castle for a living'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rmnx1v525o 

Spring is just round the corner, the early daffs are starting to grow up and perhaps after the next weekend, they will show their heads as they emerge from the edges of fields and folks gardens. It won't be long before we're sat outside, more often, on warmer days and evenings, listening to birds, or the humming of the large variety of insect life that exists here or watching for the bats. The door to spring is starting to open.

Not to be confused with the Great Tit which calls "Teacher, Teacher".