Make your own garden bee nest

Buglife is pleased by the upsurge in demand for artificial bee nests for gardens. There are a number of commercial varieties available, but why not save some cash and make your own?

DIY bee boxes: a great way to turn your garden into a mini-nature reserve

Buglife's own Alan Stubbs has been testing some very cheap homes for solitary bees that nest in hollow stems, so here are some useful tips for you to try out.

1. Prepare nesting tubes – any hollow plant stems can be cut into 10-20 cm long sections. Bamboo canes have sealed nodes, cut them so that long hollow sections are exposed; they come in a variety of internal diameters, those up to 1 cm will be used by some species of bee. When cutting down plant stems in the autumn, keep some sections of hollow stems of shrubs and/or fairly tough herbs (even down to 2mm diameter hollows). Cut bramble and rose stems have pith into which tiny bees make their own burrows. If a source of reed is available, then dead hollow stems can be broken into sections.
2. Bundle the tubes with garden twine, string or wire.
3. Hang them up - place and anchor your nest on a sunny or partly sunny shelf on a shed, or similar improvised situation. Ensure that the nest is protected from the rain.
4. Observe and enjoy - sit back and watch the different types of bee using their new homes, you may also see species of wasps using the tubes whose larvae feed on the bee grubs.

Alternatively, you can drill deep holes of various diameters into a block of wood and place this in a similar position in the garden.

Bumblebee boxes have a much lower success rate. You can make improvised bumblebee nest boxes using wooden boxes, pottery flower pots and other containers. One technique is to fill the box with used bedding from a mouse nest, this is likely to attract bumblebee queens in spring as many species actively seek out old mouse nests in which to build their nests.

If you do build a bee nest please let us know about your experiences, so we can share it with other readers.