The Masons

On 19th March a friend decided to do some work on her garden. One of the things she did was drill some holes in a fence post to see if anything would nest in them. She had expected maybe some garden spiders to occupy them but looking today she noticed some of the holes were blocked .

Top and bottom holes have been blocked up by something

She spotted some insects buzzing in and out of the holes and like any sensible person reached for her smart phone to photograph them and sent me the images in this post. They turned out to be black bees with orange fur on their abdomens. When I saw the initial picture I thought they were Common Carder Bees, they certainly look similar but the behaviour was wrong as Common Carders are ground nesting and have more fur on their backs. Bearing in mind the mud plugging up holes it didn't take me tto long to realise they were some sort of Mason Bee. A little internet research eventually helped me identify them as Red Mason Bees.

Red Mason Bee

The original pictures were 8 megapixels and taken on a Samsung Galaxy S2. I asked what size the holes were as they were evidently right for these bees. She said they were maybe wide enough for a pencil and maybe a finger deep. You can make your own mason bee box, or buy one but evidently some slightly random holes in a fencepost are adequate.

"This looks like a nice place to raise some kiddies"

One of the holes was blocked with mud and the other with what looked like chewed wood. I initially wondered if some sort of wasp might have made a home in one as they seem to make use of chewed wood but apparently mason bees do too so perhaps the difference in material was just down to what the bee found available first.

Different materials have been used to block these holes

Red Mason Bees are actually a type of solitary bee but they can often bee seen in what appear to be groups when they're nesting in close proximity to each other or collecting mud from the same place but they're actually working individually just drawn to the same resources. Not as familiar to people as honey bees they're very important fruit pollinators particularly for apple trees.

"Found me a Hobbit Hole!"

They're called Mason or Masonry Bees as they tend to nest in holes in masonry as well as wood, enlarging them as required. This can lead to some damage to buildings but isn't usually something to worry about. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings recommends blocking holes before bees nest in them and placing nest boxes elsewhere to entice them away from buildings if there are concerns about their impact.

I'm not sure if it's down to the choice of materials or the size of the holes or something else entirely but whilst they've been busy in my friend's garden I notice the solitary bee box in my garden appears to be languishing unused at the moment. It may be relevant that my friend has some raspberries growing in her garden and nearby are some cherry and crabapple trees.

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