I was asked what can be done to move mining bees, that are nesting in the ground. It was the first time I had been asked this question – my general advice is to leave them alone (after all, they are pretty harmless), but what if this is not practical?
Here is a genuine query I received. I responded, giving a couple of options, upon which the lady made her decision about what to do, and provided a little more information. I think she made the right decision.
Thank you to Sophie for allowing me to publish this in order to help visitors with similar queries.
Hi,
I have a quite a lot of solitary mining bees nesting in my garden in the soil below some laurel bushes.
They are causing no problem and ordinarily I would leave them to it. However, we have recently disturbed them by digging the ground over and in one part of the garden I will be putting weed membrane down and then some slate chippings.
Is there a way of moving the bees before I do this? If I dig the ground over beforehand will they move their nests to the other piece of soil?
Will I be trapping baby bees in the ground with the membrane and slate chippings or will they manage to dig their way out? I have read through you website and various other resources online but have found nothing about how to relocate solitary bees other than to just leave them. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Sophie
My response:
Hi Sophie
Thank you for your email, and for caring about the bees, by wanting to save
them! :)
The truth is, I have no experience of relocating ground-nesting solitary bees,
and yours is the first case where some-one has specifically asked me!
That said, I am sure there will be others who have the same question.
Anyway, although I have never relocated mining bees, if I were in your
position, and unable to leave them in situ, these are my thoughts and I would
do the following:
- Can you see the entrances of the burrows into the nests? As long as the bees
have access to all of their tunnels, they will probably be okay, if what you
are going to do is simply lay the weed membrane over the top of the
ground. If you are planning to cover the entrances of the tunnels, or dig
before adding the membrane, this will disturb the bees.
- If you have to dig and relocate the bees, act now - to give the bees chance
to recover and if necessary, to resettle elsewhere.
- Mining bees may dig burrows fairly deep, and if they are left in place, the
bees may try to repair damage to the tunnels. This is the main problem, I
think. I would be tempted to try to relocate lumps of ground, otherwise
they may waste their efforts by attempting to remain in their current
nest. Identify a suitable alternative spot in the garden where you can
relocate lumps of ground containing bee nest. If possible, perhaps you
can replicate as close as possible, the conditions they are currently in?
Try to remove ground containing the nest, by using a decent spade to slice
downward. Keep a wheel barrow on hand to transport the lumps of ground
from one area to the other. As I said, the nest may be rather deep, and
you probably will not be able to move all of it, but to leave them where they
are, may mean they simply try to repair the nest.
- An alternative is to gently fork the area over, and keep doing this over
several days - the idea is disturbance. This may or may not be a better
option than the one above, and it will need a bit of time and
observation. Gently fork over the ground to disturb the bees. The
next day, repeat, then repeat again the following day, and keep going outside
to check the area to see whether there are any bees around. The idea is
that you disturb the nest so often, that they get the message and move on, but
I'm not sure how long this will take. If they still remain active, try
moving soil.
It's a tricky situation, and others may have other ideas as to the best course
of action. I'd really appreciate your feedback as to how it goes - and
any pics if you have. It would be great to pass on the learnings to other
readers.
Best wishes
Amanda
Sophie then replied:
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the quick response! I think I will go with the forking over idea. The area where I will be putting the chippings is the least populated bit so hopefully they will move over to the other side. The plan is to put the chippings down this time next week so if I fork the ground over every day that gives the bees a week to hopefully move. Can you think of a way to make the other patch of soil more attractive?
My response:
Thank you
Sophie, in view of the situation you describe, I think that's the best
approach.
By 'other patch of soil' - do you mean the part where the bees are nesting?
Some bees really do need a fairly plain bit, or bare bit of soil to nest
in, so it would be best to leave as is.
If you are needing help with bees, please see this link for what to do in a variety of different scenarios.
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