Bug Hotel

A great way to help the bee as well as other insects in your garden is to make them a purpose-built home.

Small home
You will need :
l A bunch of twigs, some sticks of bamboo or dead stems of flowers
l String
The aim is to recreate the nooks
and crannies that insects love to live in. For something really basic but effective, simply take your twigs or bamboo, tie them together with string and hang under the branch
of a tree.

Bug homes come in all shapes and sizes, from multi-level community apartments suitable for accommodating a wide variety of insects like ladybirds, lacewings and beetles, to individual houses for solitary, solo bees. A great way to build one is to use objects found in the garden.
Large hotel
Ideal equipment :
Wooden pallets
Broken bricks and tiles
Broken plant pots
Corrugated cardboard
Drainpipes
Logs & twigs
Rotting wood
Dry leaves
Bark
Hollow plant stems, or bamboo
Straw and hay
With a large multi-story building, the aim is to recreate the small burrowing places that insects love. You may also find that, due to its size, it also attracts other creatures such as toads and hedgehogs, who are always on the look-out for a warm place to stay.
1 Lay a foundation of bricks in a rough square, the same size as one of your pallets, leaving gaps in between. One at each corner will do.
2 Scatter some dead leaves, woodchips and soil in the middle to attract frogs.
3 Lay a pallet or strips of wood across the bricks to make a base for your first layer.
4 Place some logs on top and then a few roll of hollow stems or bamboo.
5 Put some straw and hay or wood chippings or pine cones in between.
6 Keep going like this, adding one layer one top of another until it’s as high as you want.
7 When you’ve reached the very
top, make the structure waterproof, by laying some roofing felt or a sheet
of polythene over it, as you would a garden shed.