Bees are an important part of the ecosystem – and all gardeners are advised to create their own ‘bee hotels’ to help protect the fuzzy pollinators and attract them to your gardens
Any keen gardener will welcome bees in with open arms – and here’s how you can attract even more this August. It’s important to help the bees thrive, by planting lots of flowers for pollination, as well as providing safe spaces for them to hide.
Experts recommend wildlife lovers should consider putting up bee hotels on walls to help keep bees protected – and provide a haven for bees to live.
The structure in your house and garden can provide all sorts of nooks and crannies for wildlife to make use of – especially the soft mortar between paving or bricks where mining bees can make their nests and the eaves of roofs where birds like swifts, sparrows, house martins and swallows all makes their nests, explained Rebecca Bevan, Senior National Specialist for Environmental Horticulture and author of The National Trust Book of Nature Friendly Gardening.
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So she urged people to not be “too quick to fill up holes or redo the mortar on an old wall” and instead consider putting up bee hotels on sunny walls. “You can also put up bird boxes on house roofs – specially designed swift ones are a good idea as swifts are having a really hard time and frequently return from winter in Africa to find their nesting sites have gone due to development,” she added.
Additionally, if you have bare fences, you could plant climbers and allow them to form a dense tangle that birds might be able to nest in and the expert said honeysuckle and ivy are both great choices. “Many people don’t like ivy but it’s fabulous for nature, providing a late source if nectar, pollen and berries. The foliage is also very glossy and evergreen and will even grow in deep shade,” Rebecca noted.
It comes as gardeners are urged to place a dish of water in their outdoor spaces this week as temperatures are expected to increase again in early August. The World Wildlife Foundation has highlighted that bumblebee populations are experiencing significant decline due to habitat destruction caused by multiple factors: pesticides, contamination and naturally, climate change. It comes after a warning to plant three flowers to repel wasps from coming into the garden.
Bumblebees possess a fuzzy exterior which serves as protection in Britain’s typically temperate weather conditions, reports the Express. However, as scorching summers become increasingly intense across the country, bumblebee communities may face additional strain, according to the WWF.
This is precisely why those tending gardens are being requested to place a water container or a tray within their outdoor areas this weekend to assist bumblebees in surviving the upcoming extreme weather patterns.
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