001.MOV Solitary Bees ( Willughbys Leafcutter ) 

Good to see the leaf-cutters taking up residence so quickly - was a great gift idea from your son! If I may be so bold as to offer a tip, for those tunnels that aren't accessible in trays (i.e. just drilled tunnels) consider paper-lining them with parcel or greaseproof-paper for the spring bees. Otherwise bee parasites (mites, flies, chalcid wasps etc.) which feed off of the bees will turn the tunnels into a bee cemetery. Paper-liners allow you to clean out the parasites in the off-season.

Leaf-cutters prefer the smoothest of bores I believe to avoid leaf-snagging on splinters. To stop next year's emerging bees from renesting at the end of spring/start of summer, you could place the tunnels upright in a shoe box with a hole in it next to your future paper-lined box - you can then clean and reline it for the season after. Consider bringing them in mid-September when nesting stops. The longer a plugged hole is exposed the greater chance chalcid wasps will get at them.

That depends on when your nesting bees arrived. Amateurs like myself define solitary bees according to chosen nesting materials which relates to seasonal availability: Mason and Miner bees emerge/nest when the soil is humid (Spring), Carpenter bees use woody materials (Spring-Summer), Leaf-cutters cut and chew leaves (Summer), Wool carders scrape plant stems (Summer) Resin bees use tree pine/cherry resin... So put out the empty tunnels or cocoons 2/3 weeks before the nesting period.

Hi, Thank you for your comments. The Bees have used the top four holes first, They seem to like the round holes by choice and not the router cut ones in this Bee house. I am not going to use this block again, the tube and paper lined holes seem a good idea. Going to over winter these in my garage which is unheated and put them out in spring, would November be a safe time to move the house into the garage ?

Thank you, I will move the house into the garage in mid September. I was going to make a release box to place near the new nesting tubes next year. What month do I need to put the bees back out again please ?

Oh yes... Mason bees may appear from the mid-March and can nest til end of May.