What do bees do in winter?

Many of our fans ask this, a recent poem which has been shared with us helps explain.

Silently on Christmas Eve, the turn of midnight’s key; all the garden locked in ice — a silver frieze — except the winter cluster of the bees.

Flightless now and shivering, around their Queen they cling; every bee a gift of heat; she will not freeze within the winter cluster of the bees.

Bring me for my Christmas gift a single golden jar; let me taste the sweetness there, but honey leave to feed the winter cluster of the bees.

Come with me on Christmas Eve to see the silent hive — trembling stars cloistered above — and then believe, bless the winter cluster of the bees.

Carol ann Duffy 2011

Locked in Ice