Solitary bee hotel

I have several of these Andrew, home made with cut off canes , its fascinating to watch the bees gradually filling the tubes ..

I was gifted a Bee Hotel by family a couple of years ago but not one Bee or other insect has chosen it for their home ... :o(

Shirley - where is it positioned? Apparently it needs to be in a warm and sheltered spot, south or southwest facing, with ready access to pollen in the spring when the young bees emerge. There also needs to be soft soil nearby for the tubes to be sealed after the eggs have been laid

Andrew, it is on a South facing fence at the back of the garden. It has shade from the Plum tree in a neighbour's garden, also from my Pittosporum and the ground beneath is usually very dry, not particularly soft as I garden on Sussex clay! I shall post a photo of the Bee hotel for you.

We have had one for about 5 years now, didn't realize you needed to replace the canes etc!! durh. ヽ((◎д◎))ゝ

Oh blimey Dotty, I had no idea of that ... :o(

I have also purchased a mason bee home with cardboard tubes of which the interior inserts can be replaced. There’s a wonderful company based in Shrewsbury called Masonbees.co.uk which has got a lovely website with explanations, photo’s and the plight of the poor mason solitary bee. Very interesting. I will put a photo up to show you what it looks lime. Great effort Andrew for thinking of our solitary bees!

That sounds interesting Amsterdam ... must take a look at the website.