Build your own bee log

The BBC's Wiltshire web site has a feature on building your own home for solitary bees. It is simple to set up as it involves drilling 8mm holes randomly onto a log and placing it somewhere warm. I have already done something similar in my own garden with a 5ft length of crab-apple wood. I can't claim any success yet, though I should really give it a close inspection to check if there are any hibernating insects there. I might think about resiting my log somewhere warmer to make it more attractive. It is currently in a shady and possibly damp corner at the moment, but there is a lot of competition for the sunnier spots.

Bees on film

Most bumblebees are safely hibernating in December, so any bumblebee spotting has to be done on the internet, rather than the garden. If you search Youtube for 'Bumblebee' you are likely to find a lot of clips featuring a mechanical character in the Transformers movie. You might have better luck with more scientific terms like 'Bombus', the family name for all bumblebees. Here is one of my favourites:

It is not a bee that is often found in the Midlands, and film of this bee is even rarer, at least according to a BBC South Today feature on Ruderatus Bees found foraging in a field in Hampshire.

Our bumblebees are disappearing

Back in May 2006 the Independent newspaper filled its front page with a warning about the decline of Bumblebees in Britain and elsewhere: "Our Bumblebees are disappearing". Since then I have been paying more attention to the buzzing visitors to my own and other people's gardens. My garden is designed to encourage visits from bumblebees with plenty of nectar and pollen rich flowers. I have joined up with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and read up on the subject.
There are plenty of things still to discover about these apparently familiar insects:

• How do you conserve bumblebees?
• What flowers to they enjoy visiting?
• How can you tell one type of Bee from another?

One thing I have learned is that the more time you spend observing what is going on in your own back garden, the richer your world appears to be.