Bug hotels- I show you mine, you show me yours :D

This afternoon's project turned Degus' old exercise wheel and broken cage stick bridges into a bug hotel. This is a five star one with a slate roof, sun chair and retro vibe with 1929 Belgian roof tile crocks area (thanks spring storms). Only a short stroll from the pond.

 

Mine is made from cavity wall bricks and sleeves, filled with old wood, canes and straw.

 

@Selleri This is my bee hotel, has done OK for something bought a few years ago for £2, really. It hosts Mason and Leaf-cutter bees. Flawed, in that some of the bamboo canes are simply too wide for anything to nest in! And the canes are glued to the back, which makes replacement tricky. I plan to eventually create dedicated spaces for different species as I've since learned that small is good (about a square meter maximum) and they do better when the type of habitat is homogenous, it reduces the risk of parasitism and viruses spreading through the structure. Having said that, I've enjoyed the parasitic wasps just as much as I've loved seeing the bees do their thing! This species kinda freaked me out tho, I strongly suspected the long, pointy thing was an ovipositor but thought "Damn, if by any chance that thing's a stinger it can probably deliver a seriously mean sting!"

Keep us updated on what you get in yours!

Nick

 

Wow...that parasitic wasp is a beastie.

 

Hi,

We thought about building one, but on TV recently they said you had to strip them down every year and clean them out to avoid infection etc.
This did make us wonder how you could do that without killing some of the inhabitants, as some do stay in all winter, which we thought was one of the key points of a hotel ??

 

@Sheps and @Nikolaos , nice looking hotels you have!

I'm rather sceptical with these modern fashionable thingies but in essence, a glorified tatty corner can actually look nice and seen the very obvious decline of insects around here it's probably a good thing to try. And it was fun to put it together

Looking forward to seeing if we get any interesting additions to our micro wildlife. Could do without anything as alarming as that Parasitic Wasp though...

Creatures do find their ways into even small, urban habitats when encouraged. Some years ago I made a tiny wildlife pond (just a hole with some liner) and a couple of weeks after saw hovering insects above it, and then bats came. Bats are now my regular late night delights (As in nature watching, not as snacks, that is )