Bee Hotels

Emm-in-a-pickle

To all who have recently put up bee-hotels and seen no action yet -
Please Be Patient.
Don`t Give Up!
You may have missed the Spring pollinator type like mason bees, though ours were a bit late this year, -but their little holes were all blocked up by the end of the first week of June, eggs waiting for next spring, and their season is over for this year. You may be pleasantly surprised next spring though, when the newly hatched bees find your hotels.
OR - Leafcutter bees may find the accommodation - Mr Badexample reports his leafcutters emerging only 5 days ago. I only saw our first one yesterday, yet our garden has been HEAVING with bees of other kinds in between. I`ve seen loads od different Bumbles (I`m not an expert, uncertain of ID without actually catching them for a close look, and even when they`re busy on the flowers they all seem a bit coy about showing their tail ends properly!!)

Meanwhile, the best way to encourage them all is to keep a steady source of plants that they`ll visit and feed on, and keep a bit of `wild` garden too - for those that like to nest in the ground.
I`m still waiting for our nasturtiums & marigolds (calendula, not the double bloom things!) to flower, so I deliberately left a huge patch of buttercups & dandelions till yesterday, when the elderflower and goatsbeard spirea looked pretty rampant and covered with bees - have now cut the buttercup patch!

Seabright - I got quite exited when I read your post - I`m not brave enough to think of keeping honeybees (nor that keen on honey!) but I`m fascinated and besotted with the wild bees, so look forward to you posting again with any more tips and insights you can share.

yorkieorchid

This may sound a daft question, but, do the Bees re-use the boxes year after year? Do they use the same holes, and do you have to 'clean out' the holes they have used?

mrbadexample

yorkieorchid wrote: »

This may sound a daft question, but, do the Bees re-use the boxes year after year? Do they use the same holes, and do you have to 'clean out' the holes they have used?

I've got bees re-using the same holes. No need to clean them out.

I've also got a few holes that are still plugged from last year, where it seems the larva has not survived. Not sure what I should do with those - they're occupying valuable real estate.

harrys_nan

very excited, I think I have a bee in 1 of my bee hotels
One hole is plugged with what looks like a leaf
is it a bee???? or am I getting excited for nothing

Just realised it probally is a leaf cutter bee

Fay

I have only noticed this morning but my bug house that's been up a couple of years appears to have been taken over by bees-I'm presuming leaf cutters?

Emm-in-a-pickle

This is great. I`m even getting exited about other folks` bee hotel successes as well as my own! Leafcutters doing very well here now too. And bumbles - my nasturtiums are flowering at last!

Denno666

After reading these posts I think I've finally realised why, when sitting in the little wooded part of our garden, a bee was digging in a little nook at the base of a tree - will they make their homes in these places too? It was quite funny watching him digging, I've never seen that before.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Well spotted Denno. There are lots of different Bumbles, & other `solitary` bees - I`m no expert, but I got fascinated with watching them. They`ve been finding their own holes to nest in before anyone thought of bee-hotels, in hollow stems etc., and there are some that dig their own little burrows, and some that like to use abandoned small rodent burrows. (We must have a lot of abandoned burrows judging by the cat`s `gifts` of dead shrews, pygmy shrews, and little voles!)
We`ve got a few known nests (garden bumble) and goodness knows what`s here that we`ve not spotted!