Gardens and wildlife

Lovelyness said:
I only speak a tiny bit of Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 There was a Welsh learning programme on S4C! I had a really strong Welsh accent when I returned home from Cardiff, and said ‘is it?’ after everything lol. I still say ych-a-fi! A bit of Welsh used to come in handy when we went to the Welsh bar in Cardiff after the 5 nations rugby matches! (Back in the day before Italy joined in!)
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Needless to say, my son-in-law’s family are rugby fans and support Wales. My daughter has been in Cardiff with him for family reasons on an international match day and says the atmosphere is quite something!
 
Coco61 said:
Needless to say, my son-in-law’s family are rugby fans and support Wales. My daughter has been in Cardiff with him for family reasons on an international match day and says the atmosphere is quite something!
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The Rugby World Cup was in the UK when I was a student. Many of the games were played in Cardiff. The atmosphere was amazing! The Internationals were always a fun occasion. Everyone used to get together to watch the rugby…it just wasn’t something you watched alone! I still miss that vibe when the 6 nations is on!
 
Daughter was brought up an England fan! So on certain match days, there is a little division…. Many years ago he couldn’t believe his luck to find a girl who would watch rugby with him and not complain!
 
Coco61 said:
Daughter was brought up an England fan! So on certain match days, there is a little division…. Many years ago he couldn’t believe his luck to find a girl who would watch rugby with him and not complain!
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Oh there was always massive rivalry between those watching...mainly between the English and Welsh! That was half the fun lol
 
It’s starting to warm up a little bit again now so several hundred mason bee cocoons have come out of their winter boxes & into the big release box, all the new tubes are ready.
I hope they have a good season this year 🤞 🐝

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I really hope the bees do well this year. The huge reduction in their numbers is such a worry.
My own bee hotel is just a small one that hangs on a tree in the garden.
 
Every bee hotel helps Coco.
The solitary bees haven’t been doing so badly although the leaf cutters aren’t as numerous as they were which is sad, but the loss of bumblebees is very worrying, I have so few species in my garden compared to what there used to be now.
We can only do our best & hope.
 
Wow, these look amazing Elusive! I’ve not heard of a bee hotel, only bug hotels. Do you just hang them on trees, which kind of bee may use one and do we put anything in it to encourage them. I’ll give it a google.

My daughter is always on the look out for any struggling bees after she saw the sugar water video to help them a couple of years ago. I think she’d like this idea and if we could make one that would be even better as she loves a bit of crafting.
 
Just been outside (didn’t linger in the light rain) and snatched a quick photo of my little bee hotel hanging up. It was a present a few years ago so no idea of cost. The reverse side has the same panel as makes up the sides.
So dark inside.
Hope this helps.
 
A bee hotel is basically the same as a bg hotel Zara.
They do vary a lot in quality though & many bug hotels have tubes (often bamboo or other wood) that isn’t suitable for bees.
It’s the solitary bees that use them, mostly red mason bees & various leaf cutter bees.
They usually find them on their own if they’re about in the garden & pheromones (smells!) remain on the tubes which attracts them back even more.

I don’t hang mine outside as we have so much rain they get wet & can go mouldy which will kill the bees inside.
I harvest mine which means bringing them in each winter to remove them from the tubes, giving them a bath (they float!) to remove any parasites & excess mud, pollen & poo (there’s a lot of that!) then I put them safely in ventilated boxes back outside,
I keep mine in a tall cold frame with roofing felt on top to keep them nice & dry.
 
Thanks for the photo Coco and info Elusive, this is definitely something we will do. Maybe I can make a second canopy to sit over the top of the main roof and that will help keep it dry in the winter. Really like this idea.

We keep old logs on the garden as my daughter loves woodlice. They are like bug homes with so many little insects living in them. My daughter is in her teens but just loves all insects/bugs, snails are a firm favourite so I have to chose my plants wisely 😆

Every year we also have a lot of frogs appear, one year we called it frogammageddon 😂 as there were so many I couldn’t mow the lawn. Our neighbour was experiencing the same thing and we think they were all coming from a pond two houses along, but will never know why there were quite so many.
 
Zara said:
My daughter is in her teens but just loves all insects/bugs, snails are a firm favourite so I have to chose my plants wisely
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That really made me laugh!
Do you get beetles under your logs? I love beetles!
The frogs sound amazing too, I think the sudden surges & drops in numbers are probably related to the weather.

You could put a canopy over a bee hotel, I used to do that when I first began & although we’ve always had a lot of rain here it was nowhere near what it is now so I just gave up with putting them outside.
They do need to be in a position that gets full sun. preferably south facing.

If you don’t want to harvest them in winter they will probably do quite well for a few years but with time will be likely to become over laden with parasites, inevitably some cells fail & they can then get mouldy which can spread & kill the bees so long term just leaving the tubes untouched doesn’t work well.
 
I’ve been having a browse to try & find some articles that might be helpful if you do want to set up a bee hotel, there’s a lot of bad infor out there & few articles get it all right but this one is quite helpful.
www.ruralsprout.com

Is Your Bee Hotel Actually a Deathtrap?

Bee hotels are incredibly popular, but if you don't maintain them, you may be unwittingly adding to the pollinator decline.
www.ruralsprout.com www.ruralsprout.com

A lot of articles suggest cleaning in the spring which can be done but it is tricky, they’ll be very determined to get back in there & nest again before you have a chance which is why I prefer to harvest in winter when they’re asleep.

Good bee tubes are hard to come by & many aren’t suitable, I use these
www.birdfood.co.uk

Replacement Mason Bee Tubes & Straws

Mason bees are excellent pollinators of a wide variety of spring and summer blooming trees, flowers, fruit and herbs. Simply place a mason bee nest in your garden facing due south, in full sun (not dappled shade) and pointing slightly down for drainage, t
www.birdfood.co.uk www.birdfood.co.uk

Sorry If I’m going on a bit but I’ve learnt the hard way over many years & know how easy it is to get it wrong.
 
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