I've had some action in the bee house this afternoon (ignore the top rows, they are old tubes I can't access to clean). You can see the little cute face poking out. This was weird though - a bumble bee seemed to be trying to get in!
Today, while in the process of cleaning a bee block nest and replacing the cocoons, two mason bees hatched - one male, one female. I realise that my timing for cleaning the boxes was entirely wrong and should have been done over winter. All the cocoons looked mouldy, so I thought they were probably defunct. I was amazed and delighted to find that they were not. It was lovely to release them on a warm, sunny morning - out onto the flowers.
Female:
- - -
Male:
I put the other eight cocoons into the bee release chamber. (The bee was in the jar for only a few minutes). It was exciting to be able to recognise the white 'moustache' of the male (quite distinctive). Hopefully the warmer weather (over 15oC) will trigger the hatching of the other cocoons.
I messed up the cleaning schedule, but no bees seemed to have been harmed in the process. There really was a big mess inside the nest box - loads of mould, poo, little crawling mites (technical terms ). I can see why box owners might want to remove the cocoons and have a good spring clean.
George P says that mason bees tend to want to lay eggs close to where they hatched themselves (like swifts). So the more bees that nest, the more you are likely to have in your garden in the future. They are the best for pollinating fruit trees (much better than honey bees, apparently).
Today they seemed to be investigating. But the bees seem to be more interested in and sniffing around the Schwegler block (which is currently full) than George's house (nearly empty).
From my brief reading, emergence seems to be triggered (at least, partially) by temperature. George P describes masons as 'spring bees' and April seems to be their month. We've had a cold and windy April, so maybe timings have been somewhat retarded all around. 'My' cocoons may have been prompted to hatch by the warmth of having them in the house for a short while. I wonder...
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This was weird though - a bumble bee seemed to be trying to get in!