Wild Bee Nesting Box

The needs of bumblebees are very different their nests consist of communal wax combs which they construct mostly in holes underground in long tussocky grasses bird boxes under eaves or compost bins.

Wild bee nesting box.

If you can provide a suitable home these bees will come to you. Bee hotels can be built on any budget for farms gardens and parks. Wild bee nest boxes bumblebee and solitary bee nest boxes inspired by nature driven by science in the design of the bumblebee box nearly everything has been thought of so i can really recommend it. They are the perfect habitat for solitary hole nesting bees who also happen to be some of the best pollinators around.

Wild bee motel from crown bees. Only tube nesting solitary bees will use the kind of bee house i describe here. In addition to their role in increasing bee abundance bee hotels can be an educational and fun way to learn about wild bees. If you don t want bees nesting in the same place the following year block up any entrances to the nest and other suitable nest spaces nearby.

Birds and bees are battling it out for control of nesting boxes reveals springwatch host chris packham. Bee populations have been dwindling in recent years and building homes is just one way of encouraging them to stick around. An untreated wooden plank at least 10 cm wide. Bee houses consist of a wooden birdhouse like structure containing native bee nesting materials typically hollow reeds or cardboard tubes.

If the bees are being bothersome by entering and leaving the nest e g. Hotels for tunnel nesting bees. I hung the nesting box on an east facing wall or our house with a picture hanger. Some species will nest in holes in the ground while others will look for old beetle holes or hollow stems in which to lay their eggs.

Smaller bees such as harebell bees chelostoma sp and masked or yellow faced bees hylaeus spp are also attracted to nest boxes a range of solitary wasps may also use the nest box these will act as a great natural pest control in your garden collecting flies small caterpillars and aphids to provision their nests. Solitary bee houses are not bumblebee nest boxes. Native tit is being forced out of bird boxes by bees according to chris packham. Back in the spring i made a native bee nesting box by drilling a bunch of holes in the long end of a 4 by 6 inch piece of scrap wood.

Bees are an important sign of a healthy ecology. Follow the steps below to build your very own. Follow these steps to build your own nesting box to attract bees to your garden. I cut one end of the 4 x 6 at an angle so that i could nail on a makeshift roof made from a piece of 2 x 6.

In porches where they usually fly at head height you can try to re route the entrance of the nest using our advice below.