More beehouses being made

You will remember perhaps that we are aiming for 350 beehouses by Saturday - in the Woodcraft Elfin group I run we made over 30 towards the 350 - see here. There have also been bee workshops - see here - I managed to get along to one of those last week - we are now getting very close to 350 - see some of the pics below of the many houses being made in allsorts of styles!

Photo: Russ cartoon - made me smile!

I missed alot of the beehouse making but did have a fascinating time talking to Tony Taylor who is the County Bee Aculeate (see left with Jessie Jowers of the Global Bee Project). He walked into the shop and both Jessie and I talked lots with him - I have to say I didn't even know what an aculeate was or that we had one in the County - see more here - so it was fascinating to learn about this volunteer post who records bees, wasps and more - there was lots of talk about the Global Bee Project and how to develop it more and work together - they are going to meet again.

Anyway to those beehouses - you will see several styles being made - next year there will be trials to test which are more effective - the block ones or the various bamboo and dried cow parsley bundles.

See here on my blog how to make a beehouse.

This time for insulation we were using carpet offcuts - in the workshops children had made many different types and colours - some choosing the brighter colours or like me the more muted to blend in withe the nature when we put them outside.

Anyway more coming on bees soon but folk will be pleased to know we can make the 350 target by Saturday. As noted before we are also planting 350 trees at Thistledown near Nailsworth and a new even in Stroud High Street - see here.