Hello Everyone,
I have some bees which have taken up residence in one of my Bird boxes, they aren't bumble bees, the identification app says they are Red Mason Bees, although it's hard to get a good photo of them to be honest.
I have no problem with them being there, in fact I've went out and purchased a couple of bee homes for the solitary bees, as I've never thought about it until now! I do have a couple of questions though. Aren't Red Mason bees meant to be solitary? I've definitely noticed at least three in there at the same time, so are they making there own little nests individually? I was thinking of moving the box next year to a different location, is that ok to do and when could I do that if possible? I don't want to disturb the bees!
Many thanks!
Hi,
How are you ruling out bumblebees? Is there a camera in the box?
Hi, thanks for the response. They don't look like Bumblebees, and the insect identity app says they are mason bee's. I know it's not exactly 100 percent perfect, but they do an ok job of identifying things.
Without the photo, I would have guessed/assumed tree bumblebee as they are notorious for using bird nestboxes. Any other photo?
I agree it doesn’t look like tree bumblebee from the photo. Not convinced it is a red mason bee either though.
Here are some more photos, it's probably the best I can do! Thanks.
Certainly looks like a red mason from that. A few species are quite similar. Not known them using bird boxes. I don’t suppose there are unused screw holes inside the box they are then nesting in? I have very, very quickly looked on the net re them using nestboxes. Initial glances suggest they often do……but drilling down, it always seems to refer to bee nestboxes rather than bird ones. We have a red mason bee tube here……ended up with parasitic wasps and other parasites building up over the years.
edited out a question as I can now see further photos, showing the box type.
Thank you for the replies. Good point about holes. There is one but it's outside on the fixing bracket, it can't be accessed from inside the box, so there wouldn't be any need to go through there.
Yes I've seen quite a lot of those parasitic Wasps here too, I suppose they are just doing what they do, I bought one you can clean out so hopefully that will be a bit better in the long run.
Either way I'm eager to see what they have created in there if possible!