Jul 312018
Our bumblebee walk at Dungeness on Saturday produced a worker bumblebee that had collected green pollen. I thought this was really odd (the green colour that is).
A google search revealed that Rosebay Willowherb has green pollen. So today I went in search. And it does! I burst open an anther (pictured) and out popped green pollen grains. However I doubt that the bumblebee at Dungeness had collected from Rosebay Willowherb as neither Sally or myself remember seeing any. There was a lot of Greater Willowherb in flower but this does not have green pollen. I checked today. But why should pollen be green? Or is it a case of why not?
Nature is amazing!
Malcolm