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containing honey, pollen, and grubs. They create tough, silk tunnels, presumably to protect themselves from the adult bees. Before long the entire nest is gone, prompting the caterpillars to leave to pupate into next year's wax moths.When I found the wax moth

A recent Which? Gardening report revealed that many shop-bought wildlife homes are not worth buying. The trial included hedgehog homes, bug boxes and bumblebee nesters, and concluded that only solitary bee hotels proved successful, especially home

. The smaller branches I composted (I was amazed how quickly they disappeared).The tree trunk remained propped up against the shed for six months, until I had a brainwave: I'd use it to make a solitary bee hotel. I got an old wine box, chopped the trunk

this invasion to be extremely unfair.So what to do? Pesticides applied every spring and autumn will kill the larvae. But I worry that the active ingredient (thiacloprid - a nicotinoid compound related to imidacloprid) also kills bees and other wildlife (you can

Last weekend my partner and I attended one of the special snowdrop days at Chelsea Physic Garden. Saturday was a beautiful, clear sunny day and it was great being outside among catkins, unfurling leaf buds, early bees and, of course, snowdrops

for bees. How about an International Bulbs-for-Bees-Among-Wild-Plants Guerrilla Gardening Planting Day instead?

it's not legal, but I'm not aware of anyone being prosecuted for it.I attended a wildlife gardening conference recently, where one of the speakers, Jan Miller, author of Gardening for Butterflies, Bees and other benificial insects gave a presentation

the pathways made from broken glass and brick pieces. But its message was inspiring: you can put almost anything to good use.The Global Stone Bee Friendly Plants Garden proved that not all bee-friendly plants are 'weeds'; they can be striking, ornamental plants

's head fritillary, crocus, grape hyacinth and allium, to name a few. The wonderfully named hairy-footed flower bee is particularly fond of grape hyacinths.Last year’s late arrival of spring was hazardous for many insects, especially some bumblebee queens

with some wood, landscape fabric and pond liner, and transformed the dead space on my shed into a wildlife oasis.High up above our cities, green roofs provide a refuge for endangered black redstarts, wild bees, butterflies and other insects, giving them a