Having a bee or insect house in your garden is something easy that you can do to give mother nature a massive helping hand. If, like us, you’ve found yourself whiling away many a warm afternoon watching the bees fly in and out, you’ll know that they provide as much entertainment value as they benefit our wildlife. Read the rest of this entry »
Whatever the weather, the Easter weekend always brings a smile to our faces because it’s the time we really start to notice the garden ramping up. All those months lying dormant and then – as if by magic and almost without warning – the first leaves unfurl, the blossom appears in the blink of an eye and the garden suddenly becomes ALIVE. Read the rest of this entry »
OK, so we know that as you’re reading this there’s probably a pretty good chance you already have a lot of respect for the bees in this world, but it can never hurt to remind ourselves why they’re so important – and fascinating. Read the rest of this entry »
When you say ‘bee’ chances are most of us immediately think of honey or the almost-cuddly bumble bee, but in fact the world of our favourite pollinators is considerably more diverse. There is just one species of honeybee, 27 known bumblebee types, yet more than 250 different species of other, solitary bees, of which the Red Mason bee is one. Read the rest of this entry »
Jonathan Tulloch writing in The Times (30/06/2016) lavished praise on the red mason bee when he chose it as the one animal he would nominate for a berth on the ark! Given the weather we have had recently, this may not be far from the truth!
We are very pleased to have embarked on some co-branding with Seedball which is part of Project Maya (their aim is to provide meadowland in urban spaces throughout the world! Inspiring!).
We published this picture of Brian, our Potter, at his workshop in Stoke on Trent on our Facebook page and got a lot of “likes”. Everyone likes a happy face! He’s a fantastic potter running a family business with a real passion for producing good pottery. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a strange year from the bees perspective! There they are working their socks off and producing a load of goodies for us humans and they read in the Bee Times that we have lifted restrictions on pesticides that have been linked to their “genocide”. Thanks a bunch! Then evidence emerges that even organic pesticides can be harmful to them! Good grief! What kind of world is this they wonder where insects that do so much good are treated with such distain! Then they look at the other Times and think goodness, it isn’t just us, they try and destroy each other too! I’m making light of some serious problems, but oft a true word said in jest!
Luckily the forces for hope and optimism are incredibly strong so we continue to do what we can to ensure humanity and common sense prevail.
This is the time of year when many, many people show their generous and caring side and we often enter the new year with a renewed desire to make changes to body size, fitness, general consumption and to the world. And what a glorious, fantastic world it is despite the challenges!
A lot of people will receive beepalaces for Christmas and maybe some of them possibly will read this!
If you have received a beepalace for Christmas then someone special thinks you are too and thinks or knows that you will appreciate one of the most amazing wonders of nature that can be found on your doorstep, as well as knowing you appreciate design and style!
Your beepalace will allow you to get very close to the fascinating world of the solitary bee – a bee that can be 80 times more productive than a honey bee, plus it doesn’t sting or swarm – a benign, hard working creature that we need to sustain our world.
We hope you enjoy your gift and that if you are unfamiliar with this aspect of the natural world you will be stimulated to find out more about it and to encourage the education of others. We hope also that you will use it as it is also intended, as an eye catching piece of garden architecture.
We will close for Christmas until mid January and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year!
Summer is still with us but the presence of Autumn is all around. The changing of the colours begins to mute the delightful backdrop of the South Downs. Mists but no mellow fruitfulness just yet. How lucky indeed to be able to enjoy this transition.
In a previous life I ran a commercial service based business, or should I say, I ran and ran and ran. I ran quite often just to stay in the same place. Nothing in commerce stays at the same level. It either improves through action or deteriorates through lack of it. The “iterative” process of development is vital to success. So we are looking at ways of improving the beepalace. New ideas on how the nesting tubes are fixed and new ideas on materials, as well as new products. This should translate into modifications to the beepalace and innovations that will be of interest to current owners and future ones.
Above: technical work on the nesting tubes and a sample beepalace in terracotta.
At a recent event where we were displaying the beepalace I was asked by a very knowledgeable wild life expert how the show was going. Not bad, I said, I’m talking to a lot of people but we haven’t sold that many beepalaces. Think of all the good you are doing, he replied. Oh yes, I said, we’ll have a great mailing list by the end of the day. No, not that he said, think of all the people you are educating about how important solitary bees are as pollinators. Talk about solitary! Sometimes the commercial and higher minded edges can blur. A salutary lesson!
In this blog, it isn’t appropriate to dwell, pontificate, make judgements on the plight of the thousands of refugees fleeing their homes and countries. Whilst I count myself very fortunate not to be one of them I hope I will do enough to make some difference to some of them.
It feels like the summer is over and it is only the end of July. Such is the British climate. But it has been a great year for our bees so far and the solitary bee seems to have been very active from what we have seen and heard.
Probably the worst thing to happen for pollinators in general recently is the lifting of the ban on using neonicotinoids to spray Rapeseed. This has been done against the advice of the experts and just as Parliament closed for the summer. A bit cynical! A lot of people are very angry and upset by this. No doubt David Cameron and Liz Truss (Environment Minister) will reflect on this over the summer depending upon the back lash; but to say we have to “follow the science” when the anecdotal evidence seems so clear that harmful sprays are devastating to essential pollinators is a tad disingenuous! I’ve said before that this will run and run.I wouldn’t want the farmers livelihoods undermined- there must be a middle way.
We have had a lot of very positive and encouraging feedback from beepalace owners. Not everyone has had success but a large number have. We say to those who haven’t that it can take a year for the bees to start nesting but also check the beepalace is in an optimal position – south facing and 4 to 6 feet from the ground. Plant lots of pollinator friendly herbs and flowers and be patient!
The beepalace will be very busy towards the end of the year when we will be attending Fairs at The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Stansted Park, The Chelsea Physic Garden and Petersfield. If you follow us on Facebook you can track our progress.
Here are some recent images of beepalace action – if you haven’t watched these solitary bees making their nests you are missing something quite wonderful!
A leafcutter bee finishes off its nest with some neatly cut roseleaf.
A lime beepalace occupied by mason bees.
Oh by the way it was Kahlil Gibran quoted in the header.
Thanks for reading this.
