It is not commonly known but the fact is that most bees are not into communal living. With a flying lifespan of 6 - 8 weeks prior to this they spent approximately a year as pupae in a cocoon.

All females of this type of species are very fertile and will lay approximately eight female and one male egg in a small burrow or tunnel. The burrows are normally in the ground, soft mortar or in wood such as the hollow of trees and reeds.

The larvae spend nearly 12 months just developing in their individual cells emerging in time for spring and as the food they eat is in abundance. Males emerge first with a mission to mate immediately with any female bees they find. At this point he dies leaving the female to look for a new site to nest and continue the life cycle.

Unlike the bumblebee, solitary bees usually specialise in feeding on plant type only which is unfortunate as when the season for that plant dies so does the bee. This results in certain types of Solitary bees being seen at different times of the year.

If you want to encourage solitary bees to nest in your garden, it is quite simply a matter of installing a nesting site. These nesting sites are easy to fit and are basically a bundle of thin tubes which can be made from quarter inch bamboo or garden canes.

To install you simply affix the tubes to a wall or fence in a sunny spot. It is a fun and worthwhile activity to do I recently fixed a nesting site in a gap in some old kitchen ceramic tiles I had used to decorate my porch and can already see pupae forming.



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