Wildlife garden
Making or buying a bee hotel: how it really works
A good bee hotel has smooth holes of 3–9 mm, closed at the back, in hardwood, hollow stems or reeds; it goes up by March in a sunny, dry spot facing south or south-east, at least half a metre above the ground, and close to flowers.
What to do
- Drill holes of 3 to 9 mm, 5 to 10 cm deep, into a block of untreated hardwood, into the side grain and not the end grain, which splits. Sand the edges smooth.
- Fill a tin or box with hollow stems of reed, bamboo or elder, closed at one end, without letting them stick out beyond the roof.
- Fix it firmly before March in a sunny, dry spot facing south or south-east, at least 50 cm up, under an overhang to keep off the rain.
- Make sure there are flowers within 100–300 m: willows and blackthorn in spring, bellflowers, field scabious and mallow in summer.
- Leave the hotel up all winter, as the larvae overwinter inside, and replace the filling after a few years to prevent parasites.
Why it helps
- A quarter to a third of wild bees nest above ground, in hollow stems, beetle tunnels and holes in wood. In a tidy garden they cannot find them.
- Most wild bees nest in the ground: a bee hotel only really helps together with a sunny patch of bare soil and plenty of flowers nearby.
Which plants?
- Goat willow Salix caprea Broadleaf tree · flowers March–April Native
- Blackthorn Prunus spinosa Shrub · flowers March–April Native
- Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna Broadleaf tree · flowers May Native
- Dog rose Rosa canina Shrub · flowers June Native
- Harebell Campanula rotundifolia perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Field scabious Knautia arvensis perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Brown knapweed Centaurea jacea perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Musk mallow Malva moschata perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus perennial · flowers May–September Native
When?
February–May.
Garden jobs in FebruaryGarden jobs in MarchGarden jobs in AprilGarden jobs in May
Take up the challenge
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Make a bee hotel (March–May)
Hang a bee hotel in a sunny, dry, south-facing spot, or leave a patch of bare soil for ground-nesting bees.
Did you know? The red mason bee, the best-known guest in a bee hotel, seals each nest tunnel with a plug of mud: in spring you can see which holes are occupied.