Pet Bee

[tamsin]

I do a lot of gardening on our balcony (garage roof) and last year there was a bee living in a hole where there used to be a bolt in the wall. He/she was quite cute and when I got one of those bee houses (bamboo sticks) for Christmas I hung it next to there and I've seen the bee explore it a couple of times. But, today, there were two bees!

Now I'm a little concerned that he/she is going to invite all their friends! It's only about 1' from the tap and I don't want to get stung by swarms of cute bees that think I'm too close to their nest when filling a watering can. Is that likely? Shall I move the bee house somewhere else? They make me a little nervous, I'm okay with one but if they are likely to throw parties I think somewhere else in the garden a little more out of the way might be better.

The bee is quite small, round, hairy, sort of brownish ginger and answers to Bob.

[Nicos]

Sounds like Bob is a Red Mason bee!

[Pa Snips]

I'm sure you'll bee fine (oh dear, bad play on words).

[Peas'n'Kews]

Bob sounds fantastic! Nicos didn't elaborate, but mason bees are the soft fuzzy critters you want 'em to be(e) - more info here Red Mason Bee (Osmia rufa) - Frequency Asked Questions

Don't think you need to worry about moving the box.

[tamsin]

Brilliant, because I just spend ages watching, and I think there are in fact three Bob's! Reading that site, it sounds like these might be the offspring of last years Bob, so good job I added and extension.

I managed to catch Bob going in and then he posed on the wall for a pic.



They are busy little chaps. They seem to completely ignore the flowers next to them though, my broad beans are 18" to the left and strawberries in tubs below. Hopefully something later on will interest them and they can have snacks on tap.

[veggiechicken]

You'd better give the three Bob's different names, or you won't know which one is which

[GardenFaery]

I have them on my south facing garden wall ( they like walls that have sun on them for most of the day)

They are a sign of a very healthy eco-system/ bio-culture and helped to pollinate:

Why is Osmia rufa such a good pollinator?
The Red Mason Bee is an excellent pollinator of rosaceous fruit crops and a wide range of garden flowers. So far as fruit trees are concerned, it has a number of advantages over the honeybee as a managed pollinator:


A female Red Mason Bee, Osmia rufa,
gathering nectar from a flower of borage,
Borago officinale.



It flies at temperatures below which the honeybee is grounded.
At any given temperature, it visits more flowers per minute than the honeybee.
On any given foraging trip, a female Osmia rufa is more promiscuous in terms of the number of trees visited than the worker honeybee.
Osmia rufa does not store honey in its nests: it is entirely pollen driven and uses nectar only as an energy source to satisfy immediate needs, so, unlike the honeybee, it always scrabbles around for pollen when it visits fruit blossoms.
Osmia rufa is not as efficient as the honeybee in grooming itself, so when visiting flowers, is much more heavily dusted with pollen and so the chances of pollination are greater.
Because its pollen collecting apparatus is situated on the underside of the abdomen rather than on the hind leg, there is a greater chance of pollen coming into direct contact with receptive stigmas of flowers.
The peak of activity of Osmia rufa coincides with the flowering of all the major orchard fruits.

[Peas'n'Kews]

You'd better give the three Bob's different names, or you won't know which one is which

She'd just be bobbing about!

[tamsin]

I haven't seen them about for a little while now so I guess they are done with their building this year, last count they filled in 23 holes - that's going to be a lot of Bob's next year if they make it through winter!

[Herbsandveg]

Not every bee stings, apparently, so you might just be OK with the type you have...

[Herbsandveg]

I haven't seen them about for a little while now so I guess they are done with their building this year, last count they filled in 23 holes - that's going to be a lot of Bob's next year if they make it through winter!

Err, and there's even less chance of being stung if they've already flown away...

[Nicos]

Funnily enough I was thinking of Bob only last week!

Bob and the Bobettes...

I just checked up about them stinging- and found this...
Do mason bees sting

...nice to know they aren't aggressive eh?

[Two_Sheds]

I'm a little concerned that he/she is going to invite all their friends! ... I don't want to get stung by swarms of cute bees

They are solitary bees, and as the name suggests, they don't swarm. No variety of bumble bee swarms (only honey bees do). Bumbles don't tend to sting, either, unless sorely provoked.

I've been in the garden every day for over 40 years now, and I've been stung once* in my life. I can sit with my head practically inside a lavender bush and I don't get stung.

We had a bumble nest in the garden, they are fascinating to watch:

red tailed bee nest - YouTube

* it was a bumble bee, and it stung me because I picked it up to look at it. I was 10

[tamsin]

I was just coming to update you

Don't swarm? There are at least two dozen of the cute little buzzy things dancing around the box right now. They are obviously feeling a bit cramped because anything vaguely hole like in the area is at risk. Some bob is filling in the screw holes in my hose pipe reel as we speak.

They don't seem at all aggressive and completely ignore me, but I can't get near because there are so many! I think I'll have to try and move it along a little so I can use the tap.

I'll see if I can get a video.

[tamsin]

Hope these work...

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/tamd...bf161.mp4.html

20130505_163331_zps19edf733.mp4 Video by tamdesign | Photobucket