It’s great to see that Capel Manor College is leading by example, with this fabulous example of a Bee & Bug stack.
One of the great things about making one of these stacks is that they can be made from old wooden pallets, fir cones, plant stems, bricks, etc and endless amounts of imagination.
Find out more about Capel Manor’s courses
Photograph kindly sent it by @ZenThing
Here is a picture of Ali’s Solitary Mason Bee / Leafcutter Bee House which she purchased from her local garden centre. Mason bees are generally quite safe to be around and won’t swarm or build huge colonies, they are, just as their name suggestions, solitary and non-aggressive.
Housed by Ali’s allotment is the perfect place, as solitary bees are the perfect pollinator for the majority of the fruits and vegetables grown on the plots; including Potatoes, Tomatoes, Raspberries and Blackcurrants, to name but a few.
There are plenty of Solitary Bee Houses available online and at various garden centres. Some are more practical then others. Some will attract bees straight away, others might not. It is pot luck quite often, so please don’t despair too quickly, they are worth the effort. And great fun waiting for your first occupants to arrive.
Follow Ali on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AllotmentAli
Designed by Carla Boulton of Naughty Mutt for Karen Thorne of Hopton House B&B, to attract Bees to her new Solitary Bee House.
Carla Boulton: Blog http://www.carlaboulton.co.uk
Twitter http://twitter.com/naughtymutt
Web http://www.naughtymutt.com
Karen Thorne of Hopton House B&B
On the 18th April 2009, we added the pictures of Justin Knopp (http://www.typoretum.co.uk) and his daughter’s home-made ‘Solitary Bee House’. They made it using just a few pieces of wood, a few drill bits and some purchased Oxford Paper Bee Tubes (http://www.isis-innovation.com/spinout/oxbeeco.html); producing a text book example of a home to attract some Solitary Mason bees.
Their Easter weekend’s work has paid off and a couple of weeks ago we had pictures of some Bees on a house hunting spree (No estate agents were seen, so we believe this could be an independent decision!) with their bums sticking out of the holes. See previous posts below.
Today’s pictures show that the ‘Solitary Bees’ have started to use the 8mm holes and are filling them up with soil and starting to store pollen.
The Bee house is located on the side of Justin’s own ‘Man-Cave’ at the bottom of his garden: So an inspiration to us all.
Anyone wishing to attract some solitary bees to nest in their garden really needs to have their bee house in place now, but it is not critical, as bees might not nest again until the autumn, but they may well use your nest for shelter, with a greater chance of attracting a Queen Bee to overwinter with you at the end of the autumn.
Oxford Paper Bee Tubes are available through - http://bit.ly/ycjDz
Bee House Plan available from - http://bit.ly/23dC4y
The new postman for the Bee House Tower block had just had to walk all the way up to the penthouse suites; only to realise he’d forgotten which flat number he was supposed to be delivering to…
I just could not resist asking to post this picture. The Squirrel standing in front of the stack of solitary bee house boxes on top of a stool is both cheeky and inquisitive – Squirrels to a T then.
Kindly sent in by fine artist Christine Farmer. A keen naturist, or do I mean naturalist ? Mmmmm
Contact Christine via Twitter at http://twitter.com/christinefarmer Or via her website at http://www.christinefarmer.com
Justin Knopp, of Typoretum (www.typoretum.co.uk ), and his daughter have kindly sent in the photographs of the bee house they made over Easter. It is for the Solitary Mason and Leafcutter bees, made using just some planks, off-cuts or blocks of wood, dry logs, a few differently sized drill bits, some screws and some ‘Oxford Bee Tubes’: Illustrating just how easy it is to make your own bee house using a few basic materials that can be found in most garden sheds, garages or easily obtained from a local hardware / DIY store.
Unlike Bumblebees or Honey bees, 'Solitary bees' are just that, they do not live in hives or build combs, preferring to make individual nest cells for their larvae. Some species nest in small tunnels or holes in the ground or in sandy banks, piles of sand, or crumbling mortar. Others use the hollow stems of dead plants such as brambles, or tunnels previously bored into dead wood by beetles. And they are perfectly safe and harmless in the garden, as they do not swarm or sting and can be quite small.If you find them (for example in old house walls) please leave them alone, they are very faithful to their nest sites and may have been living there for many decades. They are part of the 'fine grain' of your local biodiversity and something to be cherished. Quite a few species are commonly seen in gardens and they are great fruit crops pollinators.
For more information and full instructions on how to make you own Solitary Bee House visit Marc Carlton’s ‘Gardens for Wildlife’ website - http://tinyurl.com/dgjh9n
