Make a Bee Hotel
Bee hotels, also called nests or houses, are one great way to attract pollinators to your family's flower or vegetable garden. These bees live alone, not in hives. They do not make honey. Solitary bees are much less likely to sting than honeybees because they aren't defending a hive.
Take a wooden box, a can, a carton or even a plastic bottle and fill it with hollow stems such as old flower stalks or bamboo canes, which you have dried thoroughly and cut to size. Ideally, holes should vary in diameter between 2mm and 10mm, to attract the widest range of species. Site your bee hotel in a sunny spot, ideally so it gets the morning sun
Try any of these sites for inspiration or check pollinaors.ie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpPyAMIjQnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DQo_o4Ck1c
https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2019/0520/1050567-world-bee-day-how-to-make-a-bee-hotel-in-5-simple-steps/
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/how-to-make-a-bee-hotel/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-make-bee-hotel
Take a wooden box, a can, a carton or even a plastic bottle and fill it with hollow stems such as old flower stalks or bamboo canes, which you have dried thoroughly and cut to size. Ideally, holes should vary in diameter between 2mm and 10mm, to attract the widest range of species. Site your bee hotel in a sunny spot, ideally so it gets the morning sun
Try any of these sites for inspiration or check pollinaors.ie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpPyAMIjQnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DQo_o4Ck1c
https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2019/0520/1050567-world-bee-day-how-to-make-a-bee-hotel-in-5-simple-steps/
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/how-to-make-a-bee-hotel/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-make-bee-hotel
Or try this.......
A luxury insect hotel is easy to make. Many of the materials you need you will already have lying around your home and garden.
What you need
The following list is for guidance only
Pallets, or strips of wood
Pinecones
Logs drilled with various sized holes
Brick and concrete rubble Pen casings and drinking straws
Roofing felt
Stones
Cardboard tubes and corrugated card
Straw, hay, dry leaf litter and moss
Plant pots
Bricks, concrete blocks with holes
Plastic and ceramic pipes of various diameter
Roof tiles
Hollow bamboo canes
Dead hollow stems cut from shrubs and herbaceous plants
Succulent plants
Sand
Made of recycled materials, insect hotels replicate natural features sought by wildlife in your garden - especially by invertebrates such as ladybirds, many of which help control less welcome visitors. Wildlife stacks also provide refuges for frogs, toads and hedgehogs.
You can make your hotel as large or as small as you want - the only limitations are your imagination. Be creative and provide lots of nooks and crannies using the materials at your disposal.
Getting started
Choose a level, firm site in the sunlight or light shade - most invertebrates prefer moist areas of dappled shade. Find somewhere easily visible, perhaps close to a hedge, shrub bed or pond.
Arrange some bricks on the ground on their side. If you have those with holes in them, face the holes outwards. If not, butt a pair of bricks together side by side and leave a small gap before the next pair. Try creating ‘H’ shaped cells of bricks and fill the space between with woodchips, leaf litter and sand (frogs and toads like to bury themselves into sand and soft soil).
Lay a wooden pallet or strips of wood across the top of your bricks and then construct the next level in the same way. Remember to fill the gaps with your materials like hay, straw, dry leaf litter and wood chippings.
Straw will provide nesting sites for ladybirds and thin twigs will provide shelter for larger insects. Place another pallet across the top and repeat. Logs and pine cones will provide extra homes for all sorts of insects.
Keep your hotel dry with roof tiles or a sheet of board covered in roofing felt or polythene. On top of this, place crushed brick rubble, concrete or limestone chippings and plant with sedum or other low growing drought tolerant plants.
A luxury insect hotel is easy to make. Many of the materials you need you will already have lying around your home and garden.
What you need
The following list is for guidance only
Pallets, or strips of wood
Pinecones
Logs drilled with various sized holes
Brick and concrete rubble Pen casings and drinking straws
Roofing felt
Stones
Cardboard tubes and corrugated card
Straw, hay, dry leaf litter and moss
Plant pots
Bricks, concrete blocks with holes
Plastic and ceramic pipes of various diameter
Roof tiles
Hollow bamboo canes
Dead hollow stems cut from shrubs and herbaceous plants
Succulent plants
Sand
Made of recycled materials, insect hotels replicate natural features sought by wildlife in your garden - especially by invertebrates such as ladybirds, many of which help control less welcome visitors. Wildlife stacks also provide refuges for frogs, toads and hedgehogs.
You can make your hotel as large or as small as you want - the only limitations are your imagination. Be creative and provide lots of nooks and crannies using the materials at your disposal.
Getting started
Choose a level, firm site in the sunlight or light shade - most invertebrates prefer moist areas of dappled shade. Find somewhere easily visible, perhaps close to a hedge, shrub bed or pond.
Arrange some bricks on the ground on their side. If you have those with holes in them, face the holes outwards. If not, butt a pair of bricks together side by side and leave a small gap before the next pair. Try creating ‘H’ shaped cells of bricks and fill the space between with woodchips, leaf litter and sand (frogs and toads like to bury themselves into sand and soft soil).
Lay a wooden pallet or strips of wood across the top of your bricks and then construct the next level in the same way. Remember to fill the gaps with your materials like hay, straw, dry leaf litter and wood chippings.
Straw will provide nesting sites for ladybirds and thin twigs will provide shelter for larger insects. Place another pallet across the top and repeat. Logs and pine cones will provide extra homes for all sorts of insects.
Keep your hotel dry with roof tiles or a sheet of board covered in roofing felt or polythene. On top of this, place crushed brick rubble, concrete or limestone chippings and plant with sedum or other low growing drought tolerant plants.