Make a clay bee hotel for hairy-footed flower bees

I have tried for years to persuade hairy-footed flower bees to nest in a bee hotel. At last, success! Try it out yourself, this bee hotel design is easy to make. You might also like to join the Buzz Club's Big Bee Hotel Experiment www.thebuzzclu...

[@InkNSap]

Wow! That’s so cool! You’re going to have to patent a design for the Bumblebee Trust! ❤

[@chatsworthroad]

HFFBs have a long tongue which they often don't bother to retract between flowers. It gives them this charming shape tapering from a generous bum to a needle. I always get a lift when they turn up in early Spring.

[@haulwen0564]

Its so cool and cute to see her nesting! I am going to try this too - thanks for the video, it really made me smile 😊

[@Ubiquinode]

Added to my massive list of wildlife projects. Now to go check on my hedgehog hibernation boxes…

[@elliotlane3225]

Kudos! Your perseverance is paying off.

[@JillianMacready]

i have hairy footed flower bees in my garden, so I must make one of those. well done Dave. they like green alkanet and the low growing comfrey as well as pulmonaria

[@BeesofChina]

It looks very similar to Anthophora villosula occurring in China. A. villosula sometimes build their nests on clay walls in southern provinces of this country.

[@annemiekvandijk9360]

Hello David. I was wondering if you can indeed look back at a a succesful nesting season for the hairy footed bees. How many of the cavities in clay were filled up and closed eventually?

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

Any success with square holes? I had nothing in mine over two years. Was in the sun, 1.5 metres high, lots of other bee nestboxes used by mason and leafcutters. Maybe the holes of the square one were just too small.

[@srs9130]

Fantastic, I'd asked in the ento live talk with one of your bee club team a week or so ago, if cob etc. Could be added for mining bees etc. But that question was one of the ones they didn't pick. You've answered it now 😊 than you

[@SueWick-nd9dp]

Fascinating, will givevitca go next season; I have only once seen one of mine visiting a larger diameter tube very late in the season and always wonder where they nest. At the moment they are enjoying flowering currant and wallflower as well as pulmonaria.

[@lynnpreece8461]

Love this! Dave when is the best time and correct way to clean out a bee box each year? I have bee hotels that have been lived in and I’m not sure what to do next?

[@cerridwencottagediary9194]

What a great idea. We have afew lungwort in the garden so will try and give that a go

[@wildlifegardener-tracey6206]

Definitely one to make. Thanks 😊

[@adevonnaturegarden]

I saw a 'recipe' for the mud blocks from a gentleman in Buckfastleigh down the road from me. I haven't had the time to mix it up and get the blocks done. until now I haven't seen and HFFBs in my garden but bought some Pulmanaria a little while ago and Bingo, they are here! Nest Spring I will definitely have these added to my houses for sure! Excellent idea using an old nest box like that.

[@mp6710]

Love the design! Lowcost and ecofriendly. I'll try to see what Antophora I can attract (Mediterranean semiarid climate)

[@rachelstark2391]

Greetings, What type of clay did you use? Cheers, Upstate NY

[@jonaskissling8343]

We have a dry spot of earth where some wild bees (hairy footed?) are dighing their holes. Unfortunately the house owner is building a shelter for bicycles there 😢 so my idea is to build some of those clay boxes to provide a new home for those wild bees - hoping that they will switch from vertical ground nests to horizontal cleay nests 🤞

[@antraxxslingshots]

Is it just me or do those kind of wild bees (the ones that remain solo and build tunnels and such) have a very distinctive, higher buzzing sound and a different flight pattern from Bumblebees and Honeybees? We have quite a few and i can spot them right away :) They are so friendly too :)

[@ameliabassiti]

Thanks so much I will try this. My Anthophora are grey here in France and they love my Cerinthe major

[@tubalooney]

I have lots of comfrey and borage in my tiny urban forest garden..would that attract the bees? if so I’m going to make a hairy footed flower bee hotel too!!

[@843thebear]

Lovely. What was that last plant we saw at the end of the video please, the one with the white tubular flowers?

[@davegoulson6831]

Iberian comfrey, Symphytum ibericum I think

[@843thebear]

Thank you. I have Bocking 14 but yours looks lovely

[@Cherry-Walden]

Symphytum grandiflorum ‘Hidcote Blue’ is an absolute bee magnet in my garden 🐝👍.

[@juliethartwell4525]

How fabulous! 😍 Lovely videos

[@commentarytalk1446]

@@davegoulson6831 Presumably this bee has preferred flowers so nesting site plus appropriate food source or pollen source for the bees' nests will improve chances of habitation? It looked like a type of Comfrey. I see in your gardening for bumblebees book: Lungwort, Dead-Nettles and Ground Ivy are mentioned. Any others? Presumably there's nothing toxic in the modelling clay too just natural material so again healthy choice for the bees? Like yourself at about 4-5 I adored Bumblebees and their furry little busy natures. Since then I've had Bumblebees and on me and just trying to get on with doing whatever their life-cycle dictates: Quite friendly insects in a way. One of my favourite insects: Hard to dislodge from the top spots.

[@sarahhathaway8034]

What are the flowers the bees are visiting at the end of the video with flowers that are like white bells? They're so pretty!

[@louisehislop5584]

Comfrey of some sort

[@Kalamain]

I wonder if these bees can make it up to Yorkshire? If a MK II of this was made then maybe an oversized foot plate might be a good idea to catch that fallen clay. I notice that some solitary bees like to use clay mix soil for the plugs on their nests. I have a clay-y patch near the back of the garden and I often see Red Mason bees scavenging on there. I wonder if there is a recipe to make a soft brick mortar? You would want it softer than is usable on a house. I might give this a try. Thank you!

[@nickiramsay2421]

Brilliant, I am definitely going to have a go at this 😊

[@thebentzenable]

Yes! 😍👍👍😀 Wonderful! Can't wait to try it myself, what a lovely time of year 😁

[@davegoulson6831]

Have fun!

[@pomdren]

How fantastic! Would love to try this. Any suggestion about where best to site the box? Do they need full sun do you think?

[@tubalooney]

Does the hotel need to be south facing protected from the sun. Under a balcony? Thanks for any info!

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

They like them in full sun. I made some bee hotels in 2020 during lockdown and lots of bees used them. Next year trees shaded them out and far fewer were used.

[@Ken_H_]

Great stuff. Do you clean out other beers hotels and if so how & when do you do it? 🐝

[@UkAmphibians]

Brilliant love this we have built a massive bee and bug hotel

[@bearhustler]

Congratulations!

[@zeevogel]

I'll make one. We have clay ground here, so no problem.

[@andrewgifford7740]

Sorry to be 'that person' but please note that burning wood releases lots of pollution - gasses, particulates, carcinogens - and smoke from pizza ovens (same for stoves, fire pits and the like) is not insect-friendly. The pollution makes it harder for insects to find their food sources by smell. Burning wood is usually a multi-hours long thing (also wasting most of the energy into the atmosphere, heating the planet), so the disruption can be quite extended, especially if others are burning nearby. Of course, the insects can simply fly elsewhere, but not if others in the neighbourhood are burning wood, which is increasingly becoming the case through its misguided and under-regulated popularity. There's a paper from the University of Reading 'How air pollution is making life tougher for bugs' which is worth a read if of interest. Wood smoke also harms humans, too, this is very well documented. Best is to use cleaner fuel sources for cooking and heating, leaving the wood alive as a healthy tree to store Co2 for decades and to then break down in the environment, providing habitat and feeding the natural ecosystem. Thanks to all who got this far in my post! Sorry to spoil the fun.

[@debbiesittard7653]

Wood burning pizza ovens and fireplaces are NOT the source of this worlds problem. I'm sorry that you have bought into that " save the environment" lie.