Challenge 38: Build a bee hotel

Points available: 3

About the challenge

Bees play a vital role in helping to pollinate many plants. They are under threat though because of habitat loss and changes in the way we manage the land.

You can help solitary bees by building them a bee hotel. They live on their own and build their nests in dried plant stems, old wood or hard ground. Your nest box needs to provide lots of tunnelling opportunities to mimic this.

There are lots of great tutorials and ideas online but basically the nesting materials are made from straw, bamboo canes, bits of wood or even clay blocks drilled out. The holes can be a range of sizes from 2mm to 10 mm in diameter and need to be about 150mm long and closed at one end. They can then be stacked in a covered box so all the holes face outwards and the box mounted on a south facing wall.

Helpful tips

You can find out more tips about building your bee hotel from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust which has produced some great advice on building and managing your bee hotel.

More information

John Walters, a local Dartmoor naturalist, has produced an interesting video on the solitary bees which visit his garden in Buckfastleigh.