5

Make a Mason Bee Home

Mason bees suffer from bad PR. People assume they’re called ‘mason’ bees because they bore holes into bricks and mortar, causing damage, but their name actually comes from their habit of ‘bricking up’ their nest cells with mud.

The reality is that mason bees, one of the solitary bee families, do like small cavities but they don’t tend to make them. Female bees are opportunistic, seeking out suitable nest sites – usually hollow plant stems, cavities in dead wood or holes in walls – and laying their eggs inside, sealing up the chamber with mud they’ve collected. Walls of period buildings, which are often pointed with soft lime mortar, can be a favourite nesting site because they provide plenty of nail holes, lost mortar joints, cracks and crevices between bricks. Modern cement is often too strong for mason bees.

One of the things that most people don’t know about mason bees is just how effective they are at pollinating plants – research has shown that one female mason bee can do as much pollinating as over a hundred honey bees. This is because they will fly in cooler weather, visit more flowers per minute, and are ‘clumsier’ with their pollen loads (increasing the chances of loose pollen being transferred between plants). They also happen to be one of the friendliest bees around – male mason bees can’t sting you and females will only sting if squashed between your fingers.

Mason bees are, therefore, truly the gardener’s friend. And while mason bees will happily live in a bamboo bee house (see 4. Make A Solitary Bee Home), they will also appreciate a clay bee house or Bee Brick™. You can buy commercially made bee bricks, which can be built into a wall or building or left to stand alone in a garden (see Directory, p. 125). Or you could make your own:

NO. 5 MAKE A MASON BEE HOME

1.Hang or fix your bee brick or mug at least 1 metre (3 feet) off the ground, in a sunny south-facing place.

2.Don’t let any plants or other obstructions block the holes and make sure there are plenty of pollinator-friendly plants nearby.

3.It’s vital that the mug is hanging horizontally, or slightly tilted forwards, otherwise the holes will fill with rainwater.

4.Clean the holes in your bee home using a pipe cleaner once the cavities are empty (or if you are sure they have failed – see p. 34).