Masonry Bees

I have received some news from Steve, one of our members, who has built a masonry bee hotel.

Having enjoyed making the hotel and watching the ‘guests’ arrive, Steve reported as follows:-

“The Masonry bees are mainly Osmia rufa (I think).   They seem to prefer the plant stem tubes to the drilled logs.   About 50 to 60 of the tubes have been capped off with mud after being filled with 6-8 egg cells.

I removed the filled tubes to deter my local woodpeckers from attacking them.   The cocoons should hatch next spring.   The adult bees die off in the summer.

The bees are unlikely to sting and are safe for children to inspect”

Great photograph too, Steve, thanks.

Steve also has an albino grey squirrel visiting the garden and attached a photograph of that as well . . . . .

Now over to Malcolm  . . . . . . .

Sue