Leaf Cutter Bee's

[oakley_d_oakley]

Hi there everybody I would like to find out about

Leaf Cutter Bee's

because one has decided to make a nest inside an old standard lamp pole and this pole is in my garden shed which I use daily and need to know what is best to do I don't want to get rid of it (unless it is going to end up being a swarm) plus I am recording it's entry and exit on my Handycam .

[Neil Bromhall]

I think that leaf cutter bees are great. They are solitary bees but sometimes make their nests fairly close together. They do not have the same eusocial behaviour as bees and wasps which have lots of workers
The solitary leaf cutter bees will not swarm.
They are fascinating to watch. They will cut long pieces of soft leaf which they bend to line the inner wall of the chambre and them will collect pollen as food for its larva. She lays a single egg o the pollen heap and then closes the chambre with a circular piece of leaf to seal in the egg and pollen. She repeats this process until the tunnel is full. The developing larva can overwinter inside the chambre and emerge the next year.

In my garden the false acasia makes just the right type of leaf for the job.

The only thing to watch out for is they like to use overflow pipes from the loo. It's just the right size. To my cost I was away for a few weeks and my loo had slowly dripped away. It could not go down the overflow pipe and so ended up filling up the systen then over the edge and the water made its way to hall where I have a wooden floor. It buckled the wood. I got back in time before it headed off in to the sitting room.
I still like the bees but check my overflow pipe each summer.