Solitary Bees

This section is currently under development:

With over 200 species of native solitary bee in the UK these important yet little known group of bees makes up a vital and abundant source of bees. Several species are easy to house and provide an important group of pollinators in our gardens.


Making a home for solitary bees
Whilst they are solitary in their raising of their young, the female once mated lays and tends her young by herself, they happily coexist in very close proximity so it is easy to house them in large enough groups to easily observe.

Making a home can be as simple as drilling a series of 6, 8 and 10 mm holes in a piece of wood and suspending it above ground in a south facing sunny position.

See the Gardens for Wildlife site for instructions on How to Make a House for Solitary Bees or download Norms Solitary Bee House Drawings (360 KB) or watch this video clip (skip the first 2 min's adverts):


Links

• Moray beekeepers excellent solitary bees website
  
• Bumblebee.org's excellent 'Some other bees' page
  
• David A Kendall's solitary bee page
  
• You Tube solitary bee page
  
• Animal Corner's solitary bee page