Native Bee Conservation

Blood-tipped Resin Bee (Megachile erythropyga)

After only one year, this bee hotel was found to be occupied by Blood-tipped Resin Bees (Megachile erythropyga). These solitary bees are similar in size (11-15mm) to the Honey Bee (A. mellifera) and are known to pollinate vegetables such as leeks.

Bee hotels make a great addition to any garden as they not only help conserve these valuable pollinators, but also provide a platform for observing them.

Thus citizen science projects can use bee hotels to help scientists map the distribution of these species so that we can better understand them.