Bee Palace

Beepalaces on sale at the amazing Weald and Downland Open Air Museum near Goodwood

August 22nd, 2014


The Beepalace is beginning to get an airing. We have been delighted by all the positive comments and growing sales on line but felt that on-line sales were not enough.We really enjoy engaging with the public and have met some wonderful people when we have been out and about with the Beepalaces.  We are a commercial company so we are selling a product but we are also educating people on the importance of one of the most crucial pollinators on our planet. Most of the people we talk to have no idea what a solitary bee is. That isn’t surprising as it has always been the honey bees that have had the limelight. The unsung heroes ( and we should include all sorts of other pollinators such as bats, butterflies, and beetles to name a few) of the pollinating world are under threat as much as honey bees (debatable?). Somehow the solitary bee has a character and it is easy to observe making it’s nest.

The Beepalace was always meant to take the story about “unsung pollinators” to a new market. People who are not necessarily knowledgeable about wildlife but who are nevertheless fascinated  by the facts and want to know more.

To attract a solitary bee you could drill holes in a piece of wood and if it is south west facing and near the right sources of pollen and nectar you will probably see the holes fill with larvae. The Beepalace was designed to be stylish, last a lifetime and add a focal point to a garden. It is attracting interest from people from all walks of life but it is perhaps the professional City dwellers who show interest that we find most rewarding. People for whom the whole world of solitary bees is a discovery a new found land.

Research into the ways of bees, their predicament and how we can improve their life chances is becoming more important by the day. There is a a realization that we are dangerously close to destroying those things that we should hold most dear (enter King Lear!). We hope that people will find the Beepalace an education as much as a stylish object.

We will be attending the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum Autumn Countryside Show and Christmas Market, the Stansted Park Christmas Fayre Beepalace display Weald and Downland DG_210814_7080 (www.stanstedpark.co.uk) and in a couple of weeks we will be at the Longstock Park Nursery (in aid of the North Hampshire medical Fund).

In the meantime here is a picture of our display at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum Shop (www.wealddown.co.uk). The display was made for us by some very nice people at Cathedral Signs, Chichester (www.cathedralsigns.co.uk).

 

 

 

Coexistence – a lesson from the bees..

August 2nd, 2014

We have had our beepalaces up in West Sussex since the Spring. It’s been fun watching the bees setting up home. The red mason bees were the first to arrive. They came in good numbers and there appeared to be some territorial disputes – it’s hard to tell one tube from another!

One tube would take about three days to be completed with the final mud plug – does that give some sort of satisfaction to the bee? It did for us! There was a period when the tree bumblebees dominated the garden and the red masons backed off. Activity resumed again and we have around 90 full tubes. Assuming there are 8 larvae in a tube and they are split equally between male and female then we should have at least 360 female red masons to help pollinate the garden next year. Assuming of the 360 just 25% take up continue nesting next year then we would expect to fill a few more beepalaces! We’ll let you know.

The leafcutter bees came later. The rounded gouges of rose leaf look huge as they wrestle to fit them in the nesting tubes. The acrobatics would leave Nadia Comaneci with a silver (possibly not Claudia Fragapane!). The delicate looking ribbed rose leaf pellet at the end of the tube is a wonder. Has anyone calculated the equivalent in human terms for the work that goes into this amazing exercise?

We leave you with a picture of a leafcutter setting up home alongside the red masons (such lovely neighbours!).

Beepalace leafcutter DG blog_180714_6511

 

 

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