Solitary bees, identification and whether to disturb them?

[Easty]

We have noticed a few (perhaps 10) bees in the same area of our garden for a couple of years now but only really paid attention to them this year.

We've built an extension recently and I have some rubble and old slates in that area now which I wanted to clear just as the bees arrived!

I really don't want to disturb them and drive them away so I had a dig around on the internet and found lots of info on solitary bees but I'm struggling to identify them.

Can anyone shed any light on what they are from this bad picture of one of them? (http://www.paulandkate.f2s.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bees3.jpg)

I've built a rough bee hotel (another really bad shot (http://www.paulandkate.f2s.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/beehotel.jpeg)) to see if they move in but they seem happy under the bricks and bits of rubble. None of them seem to be digging, just nestling under things. We have loads of old logs and wild areas in the garden but they always return to the same banked area.

So my last questions are:

- Should I clear the rubble and see whether they move on?
- If I leave them where they are when is it safe to clear the area so I don't disturb their nests?
- We had planned to put grass in that area, to encourage them back next year would it be better to make it a flower bed instead?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give, I'm really happy that they chose us to move in with and want to be fair to them!

Easty.

[RoofTops]

Might be osmia rufa, check out the pictures at this link http://www.bwars.com/Osmia_rufa.htm. If you have to move them do it now while they are still flying as that will give them time to find new nest holes. If you move them later in the year there will be no adults, only pupa, so they will die. They are not an uncommon bee and have solitary nests, often in groups, in narrow holes such as hollow plant stems but they also like holes in walls or drilled holes in wood.

[Easty]

RoofTops, Thanks for the quick reply and the advice!

That's definately our bees! Unfortunately, and oddly, we found a dead one in the house this morning so identification was a little easier.

I'll see what the activity level is like today and then make a call on whether to move the rubble this afternoon.

If we leave them alone, when will the pupa have vacated and made it safe to clear?

Thanks again, Easty.

[gavin]

Next March perhaps? If the adults are not on the wing, the grubs and pupae are in the ground waiting for spring.

G.

[RoofTops]

Just to clarify, like many bees (but not honey bees) they have a single generation a year which emerges from pupa which have overwintered. The adults do what adults do and the females lay eggs on a ball of pollen and nectar. This is then sealed in with a bit of mud in the case of these mining bees and another egg is laid on top and this is in turn sealed so there is a string of these little cells down the length of the hole. The egg hatches and the larva munches through its packed lunch and then pupates. The adults die shortly after the eggs are laid and the whole cycle starts again about next April. Different species emerge at different times of the year, some as late as September. This bee, the Red Mason Bee is one of the earliest. You can buy artifical nests made out of thin cardboard tubes at Garden Centres. If you hang one of these up close to where they are flying they will soon find it.

[Easty]

Excellent, thanks again for the advice.

I find them fascinating and have spent most of yesterday watching them!

My 18 month old daughter also loves them and had to go outside last night to say "night night bees!".

They are part of the family now!

[Nellie]

A future beekeeper in the making maybe :D

[Easty]

I certainly hope so!