Don't worry, bee happy

Toby reflects on the nesting habits of leafcutter bees and finds he has something in common with his buzzy visitors

- Toby Buckland

Solitary bees like this patchwork leafcutter bee (Megachile centuncularis) are legendary cavity nesters

STAND near the tree heather by our shed for long enough, and it's possible to pick out the different species of bees just from the sound as they work the bell-shaped blooms. There's the deep thrum of the bumbles, and the start-stop buzzing of honey bees which, like fuel-efficient cars, cut their engines whenever they park up on a flower.

Then there's the lighter, often haphazard buzz of the solitary types, of which we have around 240 different species. They get their name because, unlike bumbles and honey bees, they don't live in colonies. Most are smaller and more hairy, and many are what are called 'cavity nesters' as they lay their eggs in holes in soft rotting wood, masonry or plant stems.

A leafcutter bee is spied entering a bug hotel carrying a rose leaf many of these are used at nesting time