Mason bees?
So after reading that most bee houses are deathtraps for bees, I've been looking for ones that aren't.
Has anyone heard of mason bees?
https://www.masonbees.co.uk/
Are their houses any good? They seem cleaner, which I did always wonder about with bee houses. Has anyone used them?
Has anyone heard of mason bees?
https://www.masonbees.co.uk/
Are their houses any good? They seem cleaner, which I did always wonder about with bee houses. Has anyone used them?
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I have a nice colony of white tailed bees nesting just now in the hedgehog house though
Edit - from reading online it seems the biggest killer to the occupied larvae is the nesting tube getting wet with winter rain, best to remove the occupied nest over winter and place somewhere cold but dry, such as under a car port, then re-site before March/April when the larvae emerge...
I'm afraid that many of the elaborate 'insect habitat hotels' illustrated in gardening programmes on TV, in magazines and at gardening shows are ornamental rather than functional, designed to appeal to human aesthetics more than being actually beneficial to solitary bees. Unless they incorporate serious shelter from winter wet including a robust roof, the wood will become saturated and the structure will not be suitable for over-wintering insects such as solitary bees. Roofing an insect hotel with damp turves is not good enough.
https://www.foxleas.com/make-a-bee-hotel.asp