Bees in my lawn???

[will]

We have got these bees tunnelling all over our lawn.

Are they here for the whole summer or will they be clearing off after a while.

With more arriving each day and a one year old playing in the garden, I may have to kill them, but if they are going to clear off we'll let them bee (excuse the pun).

Any information much appreciated.

Will

[Flower]

Hi Will,
I think that you have solitary or leaf cutter bees.

I can't see it properly.
If it's a leaf cutter bee, they excavate a tunnel and line it with rolled up leaves. Hense the name leaf cutter bee.
They then provision a section with pollen and lay an egg. They seal the end up so that that section is sealed. They then do this several times until the tunnel is filled with her young.
She buzzes off and leaves her young to look after themselves.
These emerge about three weeks later and start the whole cyle again.
The leaf cutter bees are not a danger to people as they do not swarm. They do have a sting though but will only use this when their lives are in danger.
Best wishes

[will]

Thank you,

I feel re-assured, but I still consider them to me unwelcome squatters now that the bare foot season is beginning.

[Summer House]

Hi Will,

These Bees are Mining Bees they dig holes in lawns which is there nest and are often are called Lawn Bees, it is only the female that digs the hole up to 2 ft deep and lays her eggs in it only three to six. She visits flowers and brings back her own weight in pollen, rolls it in a ball and lays an egg in it doing this for each egg layed. She then returns to the surface and dies which should please you as no more stings. They are important pollinators of fruit trees as they work so hard this time of the year so don't kill them as they do so much towards giving us nice red apples in the Autumn.
I hope this is of some help,

Summer House

[will]

It's ok I've not fired up the flamethrower yet!

But I jusy don't fancy having a whole summer of these guys crawling around where my daughter may stand on them and get stung.

They weren't here last year and if I knew they were going to clear off in a few weeks and leave the lawn for us humans I would take the ptrol back out the flamethrower and put it in my car.

[Summer House]

Hi Will me again, they don't stop long I have them in my lawn lots of them every year they like sandy soil so if you don't want them you will have to move to a house with a clay soil, but they soon go they are only there for a couple of weeks.

Summer House.

[will]

OK a few weeks is acceptable.

I grew up in a house with serioulsy clay soil and I wouldn't swap my sandy soil for that claggy old stuff.

Actually that house was made of "clay soil" and bits of whatever they found lying around about 150 years ago. If it's good enough to be a wall for that long you can imagine why I never enjoyed digging mothers vegetable patch....

[Summer House]

Thanks for the chat,

You look after your bees they will serve you well.

I like the picture of your little girl.

Summer house

[will]

Thanks for the info.

Bedtime now, child mayhem early tomorrow!

W

[Summer House]

The bees should be back soon now the weather is getting warmer I can't wait. I've already cut the lawns a couple of times this year and saw about 20 Sand Martins today which is a good sign Summer is on it's way. Let me know if the bees come back.

[pedro]

Hi Will, very interesting your bees. I am currently dealing with a situation at one of our Locks on the River Thames in Oxfordshire. The whole of the lock island is covered in mining bees and there is a health and safety issue, although they are not aggresive and rarley sting if at all, so I am not looking at inialating them. Further we have a species of solitory wasp, parasitic on the bee lavea, so from an ecological point of view we have a uniqe situation going on at our site.

Any way, initially I have decided to cover the problamatic areas, i.e. around the lock side, with two meter strips of roofing felt, to be left in situ for around 6-7 days, this should allow the grass to recover, when removed, hopefully this will drive the bees to the adges of the site away from the general public.

However this is only a short term solution. I have suggested that because these bees like bare ground, short cropped grass, well drained soils, we should look at long term managemnet of the grass. This would entail leaving a grass sword of around 3-4 inches, this would help to deter the bees from using the site.

I am also relying partly on the parasitic wasps to help check the population growth of the bees.

There are a great number of different spp of mining bees, I am currently having ours identified.

Good luck, Pedro.

[mommafranklin]

any one there...? need to stop my husband from putting poison in the bees' holes!!! is there an alternative to the "flamethrower" approach that I could try first? REALLY don't want to kill the durn things, but they're right next to our front door!!!

[mommafranklin]

Need to offer my husband a 'non-lethal' suggestion for getting the bees to move. They're RIGHT by our front door! Chili Powder worked great for the ants and vinigar for the poison ivy but what about these durn tunneling bees?!?

[Miranda]

Are the bees in the lawn or the wall? If they're in the lawn, they're likely tawny mining bees. If they're in the wall, they're likely red mason bees. Which ever species they are, they aren't harmful and aren't active for very long, are not aggressive and only have teeny weeny stings that they'd only use if roughly handled. Please try to leave them alone - they won't be around for long.

Edit - are you in the UK or the US? My reply is based on the UK environment.

[LBC]

I to have Bee's in my lawn, they are quite dark in colour with very little yellow or orange on them, they are quite fat and fluffy. They appear to have taken over a vole or mouse hole, there only seems to be a couple of bee's coming and going - definitely two but no more than 3 or 4. Are these likely to have a large nest in time, what are they, any clues gratefully received. Lx

[Miranda]

Your bees are likely red mason bees (Osmia rufa), a type of mason bee. Mason bees are so called because they build with mud, not because they cause damage. They won't be around for long, only until they've laid their eggs, and then they'll be gone. While they are around, they'll be busily pollinating your garden. Mason bees are not at all aggressive, either, so they are unlikely to sting unless you sit on one.

[AileenEdword]

The bees should be back soon now the weather is getting warmer which is a good sign Summer. Let me know if the bees come back.Take some ideas from flower gardening (http://www.mightygarden.com/flower-gardening.html)

[thibaut]

Hey everybody;

I have not yet an opinion but i'm new in this forum and i think i will learn a lot with your experience. I intend to speak on other subjects, but I wanted to greet you

i wish you a good week end;

Bye