Nick Upton (rspb-images.com)

  video: Teresa Wachter

We are beginning to see more solitary bees about as the spring progresses. The larvae are now emerging from their winter hibernation and ready to take flight in search of food, nesting materials and each other! (for mating)

We’ve spotted them in previous spring seasons at Flatford particularly around the Pulmonaria and pink Campions, then later in the year Foxgloves, Honeysuckle and Scabious but there is a wealth of both wild flowers and perennials that solitary bees love to feed on.

There are some suggestions for plants for bees on our website here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/growflowersthatbeeslove/

Solitary bees make their own nests either in the ground or in small cavities, unlike honey and bumble bees that live in colonies with a queen. There are approximately 250 species of solitary bee in the UK and they are the ultimate pollinators as they do not have pollen sacs on their legs, just collecting hairs so quite a bit of pollen is accidentally dropped as they collect and fly about.

Something amazing about the female is that she chooses whether to lay a male or a female egg! She will lay females at the back of the nest to emerge after the males she has laid at the front. The males need to be out and about first, ready to mate with the females as they leave the nest. The fertilised females can then get busy with their nest building duties preparing for next years offspring.

Many of us are well aware of the huge loss of natural bee habitat over the years so anything that we keen gardeners can do to help provide them with nourishment or shelter is huge bonus.

There are approximately 15 million British gardens so across the country; this adds up to a significantly valuable area of botanical beauty that can hugely benefit our declining wildlife species. We should never underestimate how a few carefully chosen plants, an additional bird /bat box, a dish of water, a log pile or a bug hotel will be greatly appreciated by the small creatures in need of suitable shelter outside our back doors.

Leaving some bare earth in a sunny patch in the garden is the easiest thing we can do offering a potential site for ground burrowing solitary bees. Creating a solitary bee home can be done very simply by drilling some holes in a block of wood or could be more of a fun, creative activity to get the kids involved in. 

To make it suitable for solitary bees, there are a few essentials to bear in mind:

  • Have it fixed securely to a sunny fence or wall so there’s no movement.
  • It needs to have a solid back so that wind doesn’t pass through. (A fence, wall or a fixed wooden back if it’s on a post.)
  • Not be made with plastic or glass that can encourage moisture and fungus.
  • Give it a sloping overhanging roof to keep the rain away from the holes.
  • Tube interiors and edges must be smooth, no splinters which can damage delicate wings.
  • Tubes need to be carefully cleaned each year after the bees have emerged in spring, and before new eggs are lad. Bees won’t nest in dirty tubes or where there are parasites or dead larvae from a previous winter. 

There are some more details about bees and gardens here, from experienced pollinator gardener Marc Carlton: https://www.foxleas.com/wild-bees-and-gardens.asp and some extra details about making the perfect bee hotel! https://www.foxleas.com/uploads/files/Bee Hotel page V4 Nov 2015.pdf

The video above the text shows a very busy bee looking like she’s trying to find just the right sized hole.  … she’s got plenty to choose from!