Mind you, it was probably as well that it didn't appear any earlier, because there wouldn't have been many flowers for it to settle on.
That was most likely why there were honey bees working the flowers of the Lungwort, (Pulmonaria officinalis) on the same day. They generally only work them when there is a shortage of pollen available from the more usual sources. The pollen tube at the bottom of which pollen is to be found in the flowers of Lungwort is difficult for honey bees to get down.
The college where I worked before coming to live in Shropshire had a bee garden laid out with plants such as Abelia grandiflora, Caryopteris clandonensis, and various Hebes, which the honey bees were supposed to find irresistible. But, though the local bumble bees seemed to make full use of the amenities on offer, I seldom ever saw a honey bee working them.
In the garden, now that the weather seems to be warming up at last, look out for a plant sometimes known as the Bee Plant, because honey bees are so partial to it. Limnanthes douglasii, the Poached Egg Plant, is a hardy annual with pale green ferny foliage, and yellow flowers with a distinct white edge that are borne from June to the beginning of October.
