Only very few bees will nest inside a cavity that is less than 5cm deep. Photos: dpa
Bug hotels are a great way to attract beneficial insects to your garden.
Also known as insect hotels or insect houses, they are structures filled with different kinds of natural materials – dead wood, stones and straw, for example – providing shelter and nesting facilities to all kinds of insects.
Insect hotels provide shelter and nesting places for beneficial bugs in your garden.
Following a 2017 study predicting a dramatic decline in insect numbers, Laura Breitkreuz, an insect expert from the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu), welcomes the fact that more and more people are putting up bug hotels at home. However, she cautions against buying a poorly built one.
When buying a ready-made insect house from a garden centre or online, you should take a very close look at it, says insect expert Corinna Holzel from the German environmental organisation Bund. “There are a lot on offer that are of no use at all,” she says, adding that some models may even be harmful to insects.
Regardless of the material used, it’s important that any holes providing nesting sites for solitary bees are smooth, says Breitkreuz.
When an insect hotel is filled with hollow stems, such as old bamboo canes for example, make sure to check that they have been filed down well.
While the bees will still nest inside fibrous canes, freshly hatched bees might injure their wings on them. As a result, they can no longer fly and eventually die miserably, says Holzel.
A good shelter for bees and wasps has round, sanded holes at least 5cm deep. According to Breitkreuz, only very few bees will nest inside a cavity that is only 2cm deep.
Placing mesh around your insect hotel will protect the nesting bugs from predators.
If you want to make your own bug hotel, you can start by drilling several holes around 5cm deep or more into a block of dead, untreated wood and sand the openings well. The best location for your insect hotel is “a windless, dry and sunny spot”, says Breitkreuz. You can also protect the nesting aid from predators such as woodpeckers by placing a mesh around it.
Pine cones, wool or wood shavings are not suitable materials for a bug hotel. Instead you can use wood, clay and bamboo or reed, says Breitkreuz. If the structure is well made and the insect hotel stays in the same place for a long time, it will attract different insect species. If it starts to mould, however, the hotel should be replaced.
Bug hotels are structures filled with assorted natural materials – such as dead wood, stones and straw – to provide shelter and nesting facilities for all kinds of insects.
“The reason we put up insect hotels is that there are no longer enough nesting structures like dead wood or mud walls in the natural landscape,” says Breitkreuz. Until that is the case again, “interim solutions like insect hotels are really quite a good alternative”.
However the expert also says that “an insect hotel alone won’t save the animals, but it is at least a small contribution that everyone can make.” – dpa
