Bee in the garden !!!!

I have seen a very large bee on the Mahonia this afternoon.I live in Birmingham. Any other sightings?
Marigold.

Yes, large bee bumbling around the windows trying to get in last week. have seen a few last month particularly on sunny days.

Whoohoo a bee? Was it a queen just woken up? Nothing like that down here, just a pond full of frog spawn.

Another bumble passed through my garden today - and i was only watching a VERY short while - so bet there were more i didn't see. Spring's on it's way.

Saw my first one today out in this freezing cold wind, hope he found what he was looking for, some necter?

i see that you can buy bee nest boxes for the garden. I'll try to remember and post the web site later. I heard also that a tit box on the ground with the hole poiting up will do for them to build in. all we have to do is add a bundle of loose moss.

I might just try it.

Mark

no bees here just yet.

We have a bee nest box here but no bees in it as yet

Masonry bees like the 'tube' nestboxes and bumbles like birdboxes etc. When we check the dormouse boxes we have to be careful as they sometimes have bees and even wasps in.
Some species also colonise any bare earth banks.

Philomel

I'm glad you said some bees colonise earth banks, my brother and I were clearing a pile of soil and rubble to make a pond when we heard a really angry buzzing sound. We shifted a rock and a massive bee (ok everything is relative LOL) flew out and went straight for us. My goodness we shouted (or something to that effect) and both of us ran away LOL. It kept going back to the rock but I think we had destroyed the hole by moving about on it. Lots of people have said it must have been trapped so I was unsure if some bees did nest in bare earth.

Yes, i dug a large pond and then decided it was in the wrong place and am now filling it in for veg. The bees had a whale of a time and found lots of nest sites last summer. I must get round to completing the filling before they move in again, though it sounds as if i'm probably too late!

Bumble Bees like to nest in burrows left by small animals. We had a nest in the back of the shed that almost got me killed (I am allergic) Their only natural predator is the skunk! We finally led a skunk to the nest by making a trail of catfood up to the opening. The skunk dug up the nest and ate the bees. We filled in the burrow to prevent it from being re colonized and set a wooden box over the top of an old snake hole at the back of the property. It was only a few weeks before it was colonized! I like having the big bumblers out in the garden but they are not welcome in my shed!

Another bumble today visiting chaenomeles, hellebores and seemed to especially like the pulmonarias. Also seemed to be recceing for nest site.
The bluetits have decided on a box next to the house, close to the patio doors, so will have a good view for the duration! :)

i've seen two huge bees recently crawling about pathetically, must have just woken up. they came out a large pile of logs and twigs which are going to be shredded later this year for mulch. i'll have to keep some of it back as the wildlife seems to like it! will these be the queen bees looking for a place for a new hive?

Yes, probably, they bumble around investigating all the likely nooks and crannies. Log piles are really good for all sorts of wildlife
Have you seen:
http://davesgarden.com/showthread/212366.html
:)

i've never seen the bee mentioned in that thread.. but philomel, you sound really knowledgable in our wildlife, is it just a hobby or have you trained for this?

i'm really interested in wildlife gardening myself and have been watching 'the garden' with dan pearson on UK Style recently which has given me a lot of ideas, some not really practical when you are without the acres of land he has! i try to grow lots of native species to attract hoverflies and ladybirds, and creating spaces to attract hedgehogs so they'll eat all my slugs! do you have any other tips for attracting wildlife that will benefit my garden?

lil

Hi Lilith, I've always been interested in wildlife and have also trained for bat and dormouse licences and belong to both the Kent Bat Group and the Kent Mammal Group. I do surveys forbats and dormice as they are endangered species and have to be considered in any planned development. Other stuff i just pick up as i go along. Vast gaps in my knowledge, but i'm trying to fill them all the time.
I certainly try and garden with wildlife in mind - sounds as if you're doing a grand job on that front too!
Will find you a website, but have to dash now.

http://users.anet.com/~manytimes/page40.htm
Came across this while searching for other things - it's a start. I'll put more up as i remember......... ;)

Philomel, have you not met Mark, he is the bat man let me tell you, he loves them so give him a shout.Well its been beautiful today here in Lancashire, lots of bees everywhere.

Have seen about 6 bees today......some soooo big that I squealed and DH came running out....also at least half a dozen ladybirds.... large ones....
Marigold.

That's good Marigold, there've been lots of bees here today too and I found a lot of ladybirds sitting in different shrubs and in long grass, many in clusters of 4 or so - whoopee.

Sheila thanks. Mark's the one who told me about DG, we met at a bat conference - well, more than one. So thanks Mark, you were right it's a great place to share a love of plants, wildlife, photos.........and very friendly :-)

So we get to thank Mark for his wonderful photos and info AND YOU! Cool! Thanks Mark!

Zany :)

Everyone - was just remembering, the thing to attract the masonry bees to nest in your garden is a bundle of dried, hollow plant stalks - differing sizes - mounted in a box so that the ends of the tubes are against the back wall and the forward ends of the tubes are level forming a 'honeycomb' front . Fix it solidly somewhere (they usually build in walls etc and won't appreciate the thing swinging around in the breeze) and then they can choose the size of hole they want to use. Depth of box hmmm...... about 4-5" i think.

Now you know what to do with those bits of plant stalk you're busy tidying - i'd better get on and make one too!
This will attract all sorts of other insects too, so even if you're not lucky with the bees you should end up with something of interest

Anyone else got tips to attract wildlife?
Sorry i hope i haven't hijacked your thread marigold - would you like me to move or is it OK?
You're the one who started us all off!

HI Philomel......it's fine....I am finding the discussion most interesting, and learning too.
Marigold.

thanks for the link philomel :)

another tip for attracting wildlife is to introduce some form of water, preferably still like a pond. remember if you're making a pond to make one side gradually shallow so animals that fall in can get back out! a pond will attract lots of wildlife including amphibians such as frogs, newts and toads - they also have the added bonus of eating slugs for you!

i was hoping to make a little water feature out of a half barrel, something this small can attract beneficial wildlife.

this is a good site for british wildlife: http://www.uksafari.com/

lil

That's a really good site , thanks Lilith. It's got links to loads of other sites i was going to put up too, like the bat and mammal societies i belong to.
It's got mark's bat detective site too.
Yes, water's the single most attractive thing you can put in a garden for wildlife and i still haven't dug my pond.
Think these are all within the site you've posted, but:
http://www.plantlife.org.uk/html/homepage.htm
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/