Western Morning News (Saturday)
B&Bs for wild bees
Providing garden homes for nesting solitary bee species helps boost populations of these vital pollinators. Charlie Elder decided to try making his own
If you want your garden to be buzzing with life this summer, now’s the time to get building. A pond, however small, is a great addition to boost wildlife, along with areas sown with wildflowers, scruffy corners where nettles and weeds are allowed to thrive, as well as log piles for invertebrates and bird boxes for our feathered friends.
But there is something else that I am trying out for the first time this year – constructing accommodation for wild bees.
One can buy so-called ‘bee hotels’ in garden centres and pet shops, constructed with short lengths of hollow bamboo crammed under a little roof. And for those species which prefer to nest in more solid surroundings there are also special bee bricks on the market dotted with holes.
However, I thought I would make my own – offering the promise of added satisfaction should any discerning insect opt to call any of my DIY des-res properties home.
Admittedly, not all went to plan with the homemade cob bricks – although my efforts with wood may just about work...
While we are all familiar with the colony-dwelling honeybee and bumblebees, of which we have 25 kinds, the vast majority of our 250-plus bee species are solitary by nature. Instead of working together as a large social group to raise young, mated females go it alone and lay eggs in suitable crevices, provisioned with a supply of nectar and pollen, and leave their developing offspring to feed and fend for themselves.
Some may nest in tunnels in the ground or in earth banks, or use holes bored into wood or within old plant stems.
The hollow bamboo sections in bee hotels and drilled channels in bee bricks all mimic the conditions many wild bees favour, and so help sustain populations of these important pollinators. They can be stationed on balconies, the sides of houses, in front gardens and back yards, and the key advice is to make sure they are off the ground in a sunny spot and have a roof to keep them as dry as possible.
Before getting out the tools I watched a couple of instructive videos on Youtube. One featured Dartmoor entomologist John Walters, as part of the Be Wild Buckfastleigh WildWatch series, making a cob brick home for wild bees, while another short film was by national bee expert Dave Goulson on constructing bee hotels using untreated wood.
The cob brick provides an excellent home for, among a variety of species, a large wild bee known as
the hairy-footed flower bee, found in the South West and the southern half of Britain. These bees readily nest side by side, though are solitary by nature with no social structure, and are among the first on the wing in spring.
The black females might be mistaken for small bumblebees, if quicker in darting flight, and the males are gingery-brown. They are found in parks and gardens and like to nest in banks of soil, soft cliffs and compact clay – even in the mortar of chimney stacks where they may occasionally tumble down the chimney into homes.
The female hairy-footed flower bee lays an egg with food and seals up the chamber, in which the young will develop and emerge the following spring.
To make a suitable bee brick, John Walters mixes clay soil with a bit of straw to help bind it together and adds a handful of sand to give it a crumbly texture the bees can excavate, then mixes in water until it has a consistency which can be moulded into a brick shape before puncturing one side with a few holes using a stick and leaving to it dry.
The soil I used unfortunately lacked sufficient clay content and my brick ended up slumping, so that it eventually resembled a cowpat. Oh dear. But, not one to admit defeat quite yet, I plan to source some more suitable soil and try again.
In the meantime I found an old air brick, which has plenty of holes, and hope that it may work as a substitute until I master cob making.
Taking tips from Dave Goulson I have had more success constructing simple homes for wild bees by drilling holes into old logs, placing them in a sheltered, sunny spot, at about waist or chest height, and now await tenants.
I peppered the wood with a mix of drill bit circumferences, including 3mm, 5mm and 8mm, to potentially attract differing species, and bored around 10-15cm, or roughly six inches, deep. They mimic the kinds of holes created by beetle grubs which bees would readily use as nesting chambers.
As part of my ‘hotel’ construction I also wedged in 10cm lengths of bamboo alongside for good measure, as well as the dried, hollow stems of hogweed.
One of the bees likely to use such hollows is the red mason bee, a fairly common, orangey-coloured species which readily takes to bee hotels. They get their name from their habit of nesting in brickwork cavities, but will also use tunnels in wood, including bamboo lengths, sealing in their eggs with mud.
Leafcutter bees will also take advantage of the cavities provided by bee hotels – and one may observe them carrying leaf clippings to line the nest. I know I have leafcutter bees present in my garden as they snip very neat semi-circles from rose leaves, as if someone had taken a cake-cutter to the bush.
By the end of this week I had the makings of a mini-hotel. Still a work in progress, though with enough nooks and crannies to hopefully entice a staycationing local bee or two this spring and summer. Unfurnished, basic and a bit draughty, it is not exactly five-star accommodation. I guess one could consider it Air Bee & Bee.