Male mason bees

Male bees are smaller than the females and require less food and cell space. They are laid near the entrance of the cavity and in my garden they appear 10-15  days before the females, who remain safely inside the cavity a little longer, further towards the rear. The female, just before she lays an egg, if she wants a female to be produced, fertilises the egg from the sperm she has stored, from her mating. If she wants a male, she simply bypasses the sperm thereby laying an unfertilised egg which becomes a male. The males have a small but dense tuft of light coloured hair on the front of their heads, with females having much darker hairs on their much larger heads. Emerging earlier than the females gives them time to feed, fight in a ‘free for al’l near to nest cavities eagerly waiting to pounce upon the emerging virgin females. Sometimes I see them they the cocoon emergence box to check out the cocoons and pounce on a female as soon as she chews hear way out! Like all male bees, they have no sting so grapple with other males for the best vantage points and competition is fierce. Most of their time is spent flying from one nest box to another in their search for a female. This requires energy in the form of nectar, which they find in the fantastic Erysimum Bowles’s Mauve plants right next to the nest boxes in my garden.

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For more information about solitary bees and wasps visit BWARS

For more bumblebee information and to help save bumblebees join the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at Stirling University