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How Bee Hotels Can Help Nature in Cities to Flourish

Bees are some of the most important insects on the planet. As pollinators, they help plants to reproduce. But, bees are facing a barrage of threats, and bee populations around the world are in decline. These threats include habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.

Without bees, our agricultural systems could collapse and the biodiversity upon which we depend for most aspects of our lives would be upended. And while there are many different types of pollinators including butterflies, moths, flies and beetles – it’s bees that are some of the best active pollinators.

While some local governments and organisations are taking steps to save native bees, more is needed. At Conservation Volunteers Australia, our Nature Blocks initiative aims to build back nature through volunteers establishing small habitats for plants that support urban biodiversity, including pollinators like bees. Excitingly, Nature Blocks have the potential to transform cities into havens for biodiversity.

There are 1640 described species of native bees in Australia with estimates of over 2000 bee species in Australia. Only 11 of these native species live in colonies and make honey (stingless/sugarbag bees), with the majority living a solitary lifestyle  and needing places to nest and take shelter – which is how bee hotels can help nature in cities to flourish. Some examples of Australian native bees found in Australia include the iconic blue-banded bee, masked bees, resin bees, leafcutter bees, wasp mimic bees, and carpenter bees.

Learn below what a bee hotel is, why they’re important (and what’s at stake if we don’t manage to save bees). Local Melbournian bee hotel expert and researcher, Clancy Lester, also shares how you can easily create your own bee hotel to help build back biodiversity.

What is a Bee Hotel?

Bee hotels are designed for solitary bees and wasps who aren’t part of a colony and are a similar concept to hanging a bird feeder or owl box in your garden. They create a space and nesting habitat where native bees can make a home, take shelter, and nurture the next generation of native bees.

In nature, 30% of native bees nest in dead wood cavities from wood boring grubs, plant stems, or hollows in reeds and pithy branches, while the other 70% nest in the ground in clay or sand. But because natural habitat in cities is becoming increasingly fragmented and developed, there are fewer of these natural areas for bees to take refuge.

Bee hotels therefore help support these solitary bees and are made to mimic what their homes in nature are like. Many of Australia’s 2000 native bee species are not social and will use bee hotels. That includes cavity nesting species like Hylaeus (masked bees), Megachilidae (resin and leafcutter bees), Hyleoides (wasp mimic bees), while leaving bare patches of ground that can support ground nesting bees like Amegilla (blue banded bees), Lasioglossum (sweat and furrow bees) and Colletids (plasterer and cellophane bees).

The importance of native bees and why we need to protect them

Native bees are incredibly important for several reasons:

🐝 Bees pollinate plants: as bees move from plant to plant collecting nectar and pollen from flowers, they pollinate plants, helping them reproduce and create fruits, seeds, nuts and other foods that we depend on for survival. In fact, bees help pollinate about a third of all food we eat. Without bees, agriculture as we know it would be halted and there would be massive food shortages, so thank bees for your next coffee and avo on toast. Some of the many crops that bees help pollinate include nut trees like almonds, macadamias, fruits such as avocados, and staple crops such as canola and soy.

🐝 Bees support biodiversity: when bees pollinate plants, flowers and trees, they help ensure these plants’ reproduction and survival, with over 80% of the worlds flowering plants depending on pollination to some degree.

🐝 Bees help ecosystems to function properly: Because of their important role in pollination, bees help maintain ecosystem health and balance. So many living things rely on plants for shelter and food, and bees help maintain ecosystem balance by fostering flowering plant abundance and biodiversity.

 🐝 Bees support our economy, significantly: the economic value of bees has been estimated to be worth billions of dollars each year! Not only would it cost a fortune to replace their pollination services, but bees also produce valuable goods such as honey, beeswax and medicines.

🐝 Native bees are culturally important: Many cultures around the world incorporate bees into their livelihoods. From the native bees of central America to the stingless bees (such as sugarbag bees) and their importance to Yolŋu culture in East Arnhem Land, Australia. Native bees are celebrated in dreamings, songlines and stories worldwide.

Given our huge reliance and dependence on bees for our survival, food security, health, and economies, the decline in bee populations should be a cause for great concern.

Some of the many threats facing our native bees are loss of habitat, the use of pesticides, climate change, invasive species, and disease.

Recognising the importance of bees and the threats they face, Conservation Volunteers Australia is taking action to support native bees through our Nature Blocks initiative.

Threats to native bees in Australia

As mentioned above, some of the biggest threats facing native bee populations in Australia include climate change, invasive species, habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticide use, disease and invasive species.

Climate change is shifting the flowering season for plants that bees rely on for pollen and food, and is also causing habitat loss and increases the frequency of extreme weather events such as bushfires which can destroy vast swathes of pollinator habitat as well as bee populations.

Habitat loss and fragmentation, which has many causes including widespread development, means that bees no longer have access to flowering plants and pollen needed for food, or places to nest and take shelter. That’s where creating a bee hotel can help to support bee populations – particularly in urban areas where there is more development.

Pesticide use is another major threat to bees, as they can be toxic and lethal to bees, and can also affect their health, their fertility rates, and the health of their offspring.

Pests, diseases and invasive species are also taking their toll on native bee species in Australia. This includes mites, fungi and introduced species (such as feral populations of European honey bees) that compete with native species for habitat, food and nests.

Are bee hotels being established in Australia?

Across Australia, there’s increasing acknowledgment of the importance of bees and pollinators.

Various organisations and city councils are getting involved in creating pollinator corridors, planting trees and plants for bees, and recognising the need to support these special insects.

There are a few examples of city councils getting involved in creating bee hotels, which is great to see and we hope more action will follow.

For example, Ku-ring-gai Council in Sydney is distributing bee hotels to select schools in their region. The City of Adelaide has been establishing bee BnBs as part of a native Bee BnB Project with other local governments.

In Perth, a local nonprofit, WA Loves Nature, partnered with local Town Team, West Perth Local, to create the West Perth Bee Scene Trail, as part of a placemaking initiative, which includes a bee hotel.

In Melbourne, the Melbourne Heart Gardening Project is establishing a community-driven Melbourne Pollinator Corridor that stretches from Westgate Park to the Royal Botanic Gardens and will be eight-kilometers long once complete. It aims to create 200 gardens along this route that will act as a wildlife corridor for native pollinating insects.

However, much more is needed to protect bees and pollinators across Australia, and to address the many threats that they face.

🐝 One thing that every Australian can do is to create a bee hotel in your garden, or support the establishment of one in your community. Let’s create a buzz about bees and bee hotels! 🐝

Saving bees by establishing Nature Blocks

It’s clear that bees are vitally important insects that need our protection.

There are several things you can do to help bees, which includes creating Nature Blocks at home:

🌸 Plant native, pollinator-friendly flowers and trees as part of your Nature Block. This helps provide food and habitat for native bees. Locally indigenous flowering plants are best for native bees who have formed plant-pollinator relationships together over thousands if not millions of years. Incorporate an insect hotel as part of your Nature Block, and don’t forget about the many ground-nesting bees which need clay or sandy soil in your garden in which to make their homes.

😵 Don’t use pesticides: instead look for organic ways to create balance in your garden ecosystem by encouraging biodiversity. Don’t like aphids? Lady bug larvae and hover flies are aphid assassins. Don’t like cabbage moths or scared of spiders? Native parasitic wasps will take care of them. If you are going to spray pesticides, do so at night when bees and most other pollinators aren’t active.

🍎 Support organic food: buying foods that are certified organic helps to eliminate the use of harmful pesticides that are killing bees.

📢 Raise awareness about the importance of bees: tell your friends and family about why we need to protect bees and get everyone involved in planting a Nature Block and building a bee hotel.

How to create a bee hotel: Bee researcher shares tips and advice

According to Clancy Lester, a young ecologist studying bee populations in Australia – there are three main considerations when building your own bee hotel (with Clancy having created >300 bee hotels so far himself):

1. Place your bee hotel where it will get morning sun and near native plants and flowers that it can pollinate.
2. Use native, non-treated hardwoods or hollow/pithy stems like reeds and bamboo to create the bee hotel and be careful if buying bee hotels online or overseas to make sure they’re not imported and chemically treated.
3. Drill holes in the wood of various sizes – using drill bits between size 3 and 10mm (not larger). Make sure these blind holes are about 10 to 15 cm deep, and angle holes slightly upwards so water doesn’t collect in them.

Here are some useful do’s and don’ts of making your bee hotel, courtesy of Clancy (see more information on his website https://nativebeehotels.com):

Create your Nature Block and Bee Hotel today!

To get started creating your very own Nature Block, download the CVA App.

In the app, you’ll find resources about which native plants you can grow that support pollinators. You’ll also connect with a community of nature stewards who are taking action to build back biodiversity across Australia.

Our Nature Blocks™ initiative, which is proudly supported by the Bupa Foundation, has been designed to enhance biodiversity in backyards across Australia – and also deliver health and wellness benefits while getting people involved and connected with our conservation community.

About Clancy Lester

George (Clancy) Lester is a 23-year-old ecologist from Yorta Yorta land in country Victoria researching native bees who have a master’s degree from Melbourne University in bioscience.

Clancy gives native bee talks for schools, hosts bee hotel workshops, and has created over 300 bee hotels.

Clancy was previously a Wattle Fellow where he undertook a project on native bee hotels, and is currently a 2024 Dr Clive Williams OAM Memorial Wildlife Conservation Scholarship recipient.

🐝  Find out more about Clancy Lester’s Native Bee Hotel research: https://nativebeehotels.com/

🐝  Read about Clancy Lester’s Bee Hotel Project and find out about fighting to save our Aussie bees one bee hotel at a time

🐝  Connect with Clancy on LinkedIn, and follow Clancy on Instagram