Should I be hand pollinating my fruit trees?

I have young cherry and apple (Egremont Russett, DIscovery) trees in flower but it's very chilly and I'm not seeing any bees or other insects.  Do I just use a paint brush and dab it from flower to flower?  Anything else I should know?

Thanks

I don't know about cherries but apples don't self-pollinate. In other words, you need pollen from one tree to fertilise the other, so it's good that both are flowering at the same time. I wouldn't worry - as soon as there is a hint of warmth the bees will appear. In my garden there were none apparent all last week and as soon as we had a few hours sunshine at the weekend there were loads around. Mind you, my OH has filled our garden with bee nests so they don't have far to go to find the pollen.

Depends on whether your cherry tree is sweet or sour - sweet varieties need cross-pollinating from another. Let nature do her stuff !!!

I have three of each tree (three sweet cherries, three russets, three discovery) so I have enough trees to pollinate each other.  Each has borne a few fruit in the past but this is the first year when they have a good amount of blossom, so I'd hate to miss out on fruit.  Then again, the deer would probably eat the fruit anyway...

It was hailing again today but tomorrow is meant to be sunny.