Last weekend I created the best solitary bee and wasp box ever! The best ever for me, that is, which isn't hard given that my carpentry skills leave a lot to be desired. But this one looked almost decent.
I'm afraid I can't show you a photo, because it would spoil the surprise in the next issue of the RSPB's Nature's Home magazine which comes out next February.
But what I can do is show you one of the materials I've used to put in the box, which was a first for me - reed stems. I'd suspected that their hollow centres were too narrow to offer much nature a home, but last month I met a wonderful guy called Jeremy Early who is deeply passionate and knowledgeable about these things and inspired me to try.
Here is my collection of stems, cut into 15cm lengths, ready to be stuffed into my insect box ready to go out on a sunny fence. Whether they will be successful I won't know until this summer or maybe next, but it's going to be fascinating to watch.
Now if you've read books and articles saying, "Create bee homes by collecting hollow plant stems", you might have then wondered which plants actually are hollow? Obviously bamboos are some of the best but, among native plants, the carrot family is probably the finest.
The stems I've previously used include Alexanders, but something like Hogweed, Angelica or Cow Parsley will do the trick nicely. Just be careful if you're collecting from a hedgerow because the family includes many poisonous wild species, including Hemlock and Greater Hogweed.
Garden plants whose stems you could try include members of the Allium family, Delphiniums, Eremurus, Larkspur and Hollyhock. Have you got any you'd like to suggest?
What you have to be careful of is that many of tubular plants have nodes up the stem, each one blocking the tunnel inside. Many solitary bees and wasps like to create a chain of cells within each tunnel, so they do need an uninterrupted corridor in which to work.
The other stems that are worth trying are those with a soft pith in the centre, with Elder being the easiest to get hold of, so some of those went into my new box too.
I'm keeping my new box inside until spring, and then out it will go with what I hope is a clear invitation: 'Hotel open, all welcome'.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Hi Adrian - you might be able to answer my question. I've just been given a bug log for Christmas. Basically a fairly sturdy log with a string to hang it up with, and holes made into it for insects to live in. From what you say about keeping your box inside until spring, I assume that this is what I should do with my log. It's too cold to put it out now as insects will already have found their winter homes?
The year before last I made two solitary bee houses. I used a hollow logs and filled them with short lengths of bamboo and sited them on a sunny, south facing wall. A week or so later I found all the bamboo on the ground. Thinking the bamboo or wood had dried and shrunk I hammered a few extra in to get a tight fit. A few days later the bamboo was scattered on the ground beneath them again. This time I used glue before hammering the last few in place. The following day I watched a Greater Spotted Woodpecker busily removing the bamboo and eating anything he found living amongst them. I had created a Woodpecker lunch box rather than a solitary bee house.
I now have two wooden boxes filled with bamboo, they look very similar to the ones sold in the shops (but cost a lot less). The woodpecker doesn't seem to like these and last summer I noticed some of the bamboo ends had been sealed with bits of vegetation and another had a bee busily working in it.
Build it and they will come.