March sunshine and pollinators in the hedgerows

We have had a few really warm days now, but the nights are still cold. Right now (20th March) there is still little in flower in the garden except the pulmonarias, hellebores and bulbs. But around the site the hedges are waking up and the blackthorn is flowering well. I spend an hour in the sunshine observing the pollinators that had flocked to a sheltered south-facing line of mature blackthorn.  Most of them were either moving too fast or too high up for me to identify but I could see masses of hoverflies, flies and a few solitary bees and butterflies. It was such a joy to see that many pollinators again, but the nights are still cold and these temperatures are not the norm yet.

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