I'm so sorry but everytime I get to write something about Megachile Leafcutter Bees, I can't help but slip into a little bit of Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Chile'... see there it is again, all heavy rift and grinding beat...
I shall continue writing with it playing along...
In the Wildlife Garden we certainly have at least one type of these large and chunky bees and the bamboo cane homes that I built back in May have been proving popular. It is great to watch them coming in with a nice ovoid piece of leaf (usually a rose of some sort it seems) and feed it into a hole to create a liner inside. They then return with pollen that is collected on the underside of their abdomen (not in pollen sacks on legs like Bumbles and Honeys) and fill the tube before laying a single egg.
(Lawrence Rogers)
They then return with circular disks of leaf that are perfectly fitted into the hole to seal it... job done!
Stuff it in there! as you can see there are several pieces to make up the bung.
And today I found one sitting inside its finished tube watching the worlds go by
(last two by HTV)
So pleased that this has worked this year and so simple... so why not give it a try and home?
6-8-15
I'm a king bee,Baby/Buzzing around your hive."