Solitary Bees- Declining Numbers

  

The number of Solitary bees that are going to make it through the winter this year in the UK are much lower than normal. Our producer of Solitary bees has been checking his production nests and unfortunately many have failed, so it looks like there will not be many live cocoons for us to harvest next spring. This just goes to show how fragile the plight of many bee species is. It is difficult to always know what is causing the problems.

For those of you with Solitary bee nests, it is a good idea to move any nesting tubes that are inhabited into a garage or shed for the winter. This will protect them from predators such as birds. Woodpeckers especially, love eating the Solitary bee cocoons. If this is not possible, try putting some netting over the end to prevent birds getting access to the tubes. It is also a good time to clean out any empty tubes. This will remove any parasites and make the nesting tubes more likely to succeed next spring when new eggs might be laid in them.

It is easy to remove nesting tubes to keep safe during the winter

It is especially important next spring to encourage the solitary bees that do make it through the spring to mate and lay new eggs in nesting tubes and habitats. This can be helped by creating areas of pollen bearing plants and siting your nesting tubes to the right orientation. The ones most likely to attract solitary bees should be facing south to south east. Also make sure they back onto a solid back and are not swinging in the wind. No bees will attempt to use these ones.

Ensure your nester is secure to a wall or fence

 At Dragonfli we also have some very well designed solitary bee nesters. They make great Christmas gifts, so take a look at our Beepol Solitary bee nesters, now available in some great new colours to liven up the garden. 

Help bees in your garden and give a very worthwhile gift this Christmas with a Beepol solitary bee nester.

A selection of Solitary Bee and insect nesters