How to Make a Bee Shelter

A bee shelter provides space for solitary bees to nest in. There are around 220 species of wild bees in the UK, called ‘solitary’ because they make individual nest cells for their larvae. It is these solitary rather than bumble bees that will be attracted to the bee shelter Calvin is making. Some solitary bees are very small and black so they may not even look like what many of us think of as bees!

Here is what you will need:

• A large 2 litre plastic drinks bottle (empty).
• 10 bamboo stems of 3 foot length
• Durable string
• A saw or large hacksaw

The Bees Knees

Here is a much larger invertebrate shelter in Bunhill Fields, a cemetery in the London Borough of Islington, (burial place of William Blake and Daniel Defoe). On a sunny day, hundreds of people come here to eat their lunch outdoors and may see the bees using their grand hotel.