Hi, honey, I’m home!

No, no honey. I have bought a beehive, but it’s not for honey bees. I’d love to have a hive but I don’t really have anywhere to put one, or the time to look after a swarm. Even just finding names for them all would be an insurmountable effort.

But I do like bees.

So I bought one of these. It’s a solitary bee hive. I hadn’t actually seen one before I ordered so I was expecting it to be really, really small, but as you can see it’s about 6 inches across and houses 24 solitary – I suppose semi-solitary – bees.

I’ve mounted it in the garden, facing roughly south as suggested. Actually, they suggested south-south-east which a) is remarkably specific and b) would have required the doing of carpentry, so south is what they got. The instructions say the bees move in in February or March, so I’ve put a note in my diary to stick a card in the newsagent’s window – “To let: high rise apartment in delightful spot. Excellent access to hedges, flowerbeds and other local amenities. Would suit solitary bee or recently divorced drone. No pets.”

I’ll keep you posted.