A beautifully built solitary bee hotel and unpleasant residents who share it!!
A beautifully built stone solitary bee hotel I love the ingenuity, creativity, design and appreciate the effort some people put into making a solitary bee nest. I came across this one recently when visiting a showpiece garden which itself contained a busy garden...
Nurturing Nature talking wild garden bees under the Hive at Kew
The Hive: Fortnightly findings Every fortnight we welcome special guests to The Hive to talk about bees and wild pollinators. Until 29 October (alternate Sundays). Event details Alternate Sundays 28 May – 29 October 2017 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm TALKS AND...
The swinging bee hotel! video
The swinging log bee hotel! In all of the research, papers, etc., I have read about solitary bee nest boxes, they all state such bee nest boxes needed to be secure, fixed and stable when erected. Marc Carlton on his excellent web site, which I can thoroughly recommend...
Birds ‘n’ Bees Presentation Risley Moss Nature Reserve
Birds 'n' Bees Presentation 11 am Sunday 23rd July Risley Moss Local Nature Reserve The fifth in a series of fascinating talks by naturalist George Pilkington, this time about the courtship and nesting habits of both garden birds and bees. Learn how some bees are...
Golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle in my wildlife garden?
What a lovely looking beetle! A Golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle? Since I had my boring lawn converted to a wildflower meadow, there have been loads of new species that visit it. Too many for me to know each and every single one. It would require a whole new...
Foraging queen Bombus hortorums and their nests
Foraging queen Bombus hortorums and their nests in my wildlife garden I have had several Bombus hortorum nests in my garden nest boxes over the years. Every single one, including the two shown here, was "wax mothed"! by Aphomia sociella. None had the protection of...
Ichneumon wasp, (Ephialtes manifesto?) ovipositing inside Red mason bee cocoon video
Ichnuemon Wasp, (Ephialtes manifestor?) ovipositing into red mason bee cocoon After filming another Ichneumon wasp, which looks like the same species, using her ovipositor to check out a metal screw! This female got it right, unfortunately for the Red mason bee larva...
Pink rose petals for this leafcutter bee’s cell, video
Pink rose petals for this leafcutter bee's cell! I saw this pink blur out of the corner of my eye and investigated to find this beautiful pink rose petalled nest inside my solitary bee nest box, made by what is probably a patchwork leafcutter bee (Megachile...
Win a Nurturing Nature Solitary Bee Observation Nest box with the Buzz Club
Win a Nurturing Nature Solitary Bee Observation Box Simply take a photograph of pollinators: bees, wasps or hoverflies and submit to the Buzz Club....free entry, read below. A Hidden Buzz The theme for this July's Buzz Club competition is 'hidden or rarely noticed'...
Ichneumonid wasp checking out a screw in a solitary bee nest box-video
Ichneumonid wasp investigating screw in solitary bee nest box! I saw this Ichneumonid wasp (Ephialtes manifestator?) using her antennae to feel the outside wooden casing of my orchard solitary bee nest box. This behaviour I have seen used by many other parasitoid...