Record Shot

I moved this bee hotel this afternoon from the protection of our front “porch” area, where it has been protected over winter from the wet, to its usual sunnier position on a trellis in our back garden. It will be interesting to see if any occupants have survived the winter, so this is just for my record.

Two species of bees have used the hotel. Five tubes hopefully will play host to emerging red mason bees. Those tubes look well sealed with a clayey mix, and if there are surviving occupants they should emerge this month. . Other tubes have been used by (I think Willughby’s) leaf cutter bees, who have sealed their tubes with leaf fragments, which look decidedly amateur in construction. But then again, I’m no engineer. They will emerge later.