Area with gravel/sand
How to make a habitat for
ground nesting bees
Bees are incredibly important pollinating insects. We
have around 270 species which inhabit the UK, with
the majority nesting underground in soil. Although
the most familiar varieties are social bees, (bumbles
and honeybee), there is a staggering diversity of
solitary bees which do not live in hives and have very
secretive lives underground
Creating Nesting Habitats for Bees
Nesting habitats for ground nesting bees
Many wild bees nest in underground burrows which they usually excavate themselves. Most species prefer compacted dry sandy soil or dry loam to excavate their nests. Some species prefer chalk and some prefer clay. A few will nest in very loose fine sand.
You can attract a wide variety of bees to nest by creating mounds of substrate made of different soil types. If you only have room for one mound then try using a mix of 25% top soil, 25% sharp sand and 50% soft builders sand or Hoggin mix. This sort of soil mix is likely to attract the most variety of bees and solitary wasps to nest.
Ideally your mound should be facing a southerly aspect so that the warmth of the sun can aid in incubation of the bees nests and help keep the mound dry.
Pile your substrate into a mound and walk on it or patt it down firmly to compress and compact the soil mixture. You need to ensure that the sand and soil particles bind well together, this helps to ensure that bees nest burrows won't collapse and the closely bonded particles help expel moisture.
Make a Bee Hotel
Mining Bees
Most species of solitary bees are in fact Mining Bees, and do not use the tube nests described above. They build their nest cells in open sandy soil, banks or short grass. Unfortunately gardeners tend to overlook them. Current gardening advice that encourages you to dig soil, or to mulch it, or to grow ground-cover plants, means that there is often little habitat for Mining Bees in gardens.
On the continent some wildlife-friendly gardeners build special bee walls of soft mortar for Mining bees. I have had no success with this so far, but I urge you to experiment. In any case to help Mining Bees you should keep some patches of sunny ground in your garden clear of vegetation and clear of mulch. Light sandy soil is ideal. Stacks of upturned turfs, left to rot down in a sunny place are sometimes colonised by mining bees, so long as you clip the grass on the side facing the sun. You can also try creating mounds or slopes of sand or sandy soil in a sunny place specifically for Mining Bees.
The Pollinator Garden