on a spray of willow catkins, two bees pushing and shoving to get the most nectar; the one on the left seemed unwell, and stayed trying to feed till late evening, unable to just fly to a different twig, and so often in conflict with others; that on the right was normally strong in spite of its load of mites; there is some debate around how parasitic, or how symbiotic these might be; but all the strong bees that day had mites clinging on

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