{"id":2190730,"date":"2026-04-18T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190730"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:08:27","slug":"say-no-to-pesticides-mix-up-your-lawn-and-six-more-ways-to-help-bees-to-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/say-no-to-pesticides-mix-up-your-lawn-and-six-more-ways-to-help-bees-to-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Say no to pesticides, mix up your lawn \u2013 and six more ways to help bees to thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>e know about honeybees and bumblebees, but most of the UK\u2019s bees are neither: they\u2019re solitary bees, loners who come in a dizzying range of sizes, colours and varieties \u2013\u00a0more than 240 species. Have you heard, for instance, of the hairy-footed flower bee? \u201cThey\u2019re one of the first bees to emerge each year,\u201d says Laura Larkin, the chief conservation officer\u00a0at Buglife. \u201cThe males have got fantastic little fluffy bits on their feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

How about leaf-cutter bees, which chomp \u201ca perfectly circular hole\u201d out of leaves to build their nests? Or bright-orange\u00a0tawny mining bees,\u00a0wool-carder bees,\u00a0ivy bees? \u201cThere are so many of them and I\u2019m still learning,\u201d says\u00a0Kate Bradbury, a wildlife gardener, writer, bee lover and the author of\u00a0One Garden Against the World. \u201cThey\u2019re just great \u2013 there\u2019s a solitary bee for every occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also incredibly important pollinators. \u201cThey\u2019re quite messy and just cover themselves in it,\u201d says Larkin. \u201cBecause the pollen is a lot more loose on the bodies of solitary bees when they travel around from plant to plant, it\u2019s more likely to fall off; it makes them a lot more efficient as pollinators than some of the other bees.\u201d Estimates suggest that a single\u00a0red mason bee\u00a0provides\u00a0the same pollination level as 120 worker honeybees. Good work, solitary bees.<\/p>\n

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A female tawny miner bee nesting in the earth.\u00a0Photograph: Nature Picture Library\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Why do they need to be saved?<\/h2>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not doing brilliantly,\u201d says Larkin. Species-specific data is hard to come by, but Buglife\u2019s annual\u00a0Bugs Matter survey, which covers all flying insects, shows an annual decline of 19% over the past five years. \u201cThe overall decline between 2021 and 2025 was 59%, so it\u2019s quite high. That is echoed by longer-term studies.\u201d (A German study\u00a0published in 2017 found a 75% decline in total flying insect biomass over the previous 27 years.)<\/p>\n

How can you help?<\/h2>\n

Count number plate splats
\n<\/strong>Anyone with access to a car can take part in the Bugs Matter survey \u2013 you don\u2019t even need to be driving (but do ask permission from the driver). There is a free map for\u00a0Android\u00a0or\u00a0IOS. \u201cYou log your car journeys, count how many insects have splatted on your number plate by the end of it and then submit that,\u201d says Larkin. Participants count squished bugs, but also take and submit pictures of their plate using the app\u2019s \u201cvirtual splatometer\u201d (it\u2019s just as important to submit if there aren\u2019t any splatted bugs after your journey). You can take part any time between now and September and log as many trips as you like. \u201cThe more journeys that are done and the more wide-ranging it is, the better the data,\u201d says Larkin.<\/p>\n

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Make mining bees feel at home
\n<\/strong>Solitary bees need places to lay their eggs, but where they do this varies. Some are cavity-nesting or mason bees: \u201cThey naturally nest in places like stems of hollow plants, little holes in dead wood and old holes in masonry and walls,\u201d says Larkin. But 70% of solitary bees are mining bees that burrow underground. \u201cThey nest in flower beds, in soil and in bare ground. They are normally found where it\u2019s warm and sunny, so south-facing, sheltered places that heat up are best for them.\u201d Creating and maintaining spaces like that in your garden will ensure they can create their underground lairs (networks of individual cells, each containing an egg).<\/p>\n

Mix up your lawn<\/strong>\u00a0and watch out for volcanoes
\n<\/strong>\u201cShort lawns get a bad press,\u201d says Bradbury. \u201cBut it is the best thing for mining bees like buffish mining bees and tawny mining bees.\u201d A bit of both is ideal: \u201cSome short grass, where it\u2019s sunny and sheltered and they can nest, but also some longer grass, where they can feed,\u201d says Larkin.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re mowing, look out for \u201cvolcanoes\u201d \u2013 tiny piles of loose earth with a hole in the top. Leave these mining-bee nests alone, temporarily. \u201cThey\u2019ll only be there for a couple of weeks. Once they\u2019ve stopped laying eggs, they cover everything up again,\u201d says Bradbury.<\/p>\n

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Calm down on garden clear-ups
\n<\/strong>Plant stems and stalks are ideal homes for many cavity-nesting bees. \u201cWe clear plants in autumn when they start to die back, and we\u2019re removing so many opportunities for different species to live their lives,\u201d says Bradbury. \u201cIf you leave stuff, you\u2019re more likely to get these bees nesting in your garden.\u201d A compromise, she suggests, is to cut dead stalks down to 30cm, which still leaves bees with some nesting habitat.<\/p>\n

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A blue mason bee flying to her nest burrow in an insect hotel.\u00a0Photograph: Nick Upton\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Become a bee hotelier
\n<\/strong>A subset of solitary bees like to nest in bee hotels, which are easy to make, Bradbury says.\u00a0There are lots\u00a0of\u00a0models online; she suggests using a box at least 16cm deep. \u201cFill it with stems \u2013 alliums, sunflowers, teasels, stuff like that. Make sure they\u2019re nice and dry.\u201d Bees like it warm, so place your box at chest-to-head height in a sheltered, sunny location; Bradbury suggests east-facing, ideally, \u201cso they get the morning sun\u201d.<\/p>\n

You can buy boxes, too, but make sure the dimensions are right. They need to be at least 12cm deep, but ideally 16cm-plus, Larkin says, while the holes should be between 2mm and 10mm in diameter. \u201cTake a ruler out!\u201d advises Bradbury. There\u2019s still time to get your bee hotel up and running this year, she says: red mason bees, one of their most enthusiastic users, come out at the same time as apple blossom.<\/p>\n

In the autumn, \u201ctake your bee hotel down and put it somewhere nice and dry and not too warm\u201d, Bradbury says. Otherwise, birds will probably snack on the occupants over winter.<\/p>\n

Plant and protect bee food
\n<\/strong>\u201cLoads of bees have special affiliations with native flowers,\u201d says Bradbury. \u201cThe large scabious mining bee feeds on field scabious; great knapweed is really loved by leaf-cutter bees; pulmonaria has a good relationship with hairy-footed flower bees \u2026\u201d Even if you have only a window box, you can plant bee food: \u201cGrow some crocuses, forget-me-nots, pulmonaria, hellebores and you\u2019ll get a variety of different species.\u201d There\u2019s a\u00a0guide to gardening for solitary bees\u00a0on the Buglife website.<\/p>\n

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Larkin advises planning your planting to span \u201cthe tail ends of the season, spring and autumn\u201d, especially since the climate crisis means some bees are emerging earlier. And leave dandelions alone. \u201cThey flower early in the year and they\u2019ve got an abundance of pollen; they\u2019re fantastic,\u201d says Larkin. And they\u2019re pretty, too.<\/p>\n

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Keep the dandelions \u2026 not only are they pretty, but they are a good source of pollen for tawny mining bees.\u00a0Photograph: pqpictures.co.uk\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Do a\u00a0<\/strong>Fit check
\n<\/strong>Fit refers to \u201cflower-insect timed\u201d counts. These\u00a0Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) surveys\u00a0are a way to gather more data on insect numbers. \u201cPeople have to sit and watch a little patch of flowers for 10 minutes and record all the different types of insects,\u201d Larkin says. \u201cThat goes into the big national database and helps to monitor how pollinators are doing over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Identifying insects isn\u2019t immediately obvious for beginners, but there\u2019s guidance on the\u00a0PoMS website\u00a0and\u00a0on its app. The season started on 1 April, so you can get going now. \u201cYou can do it wherever you are,\u201d says Larkin. \u201cIf you\u2019re sitting in a park on your lunch break and you want to spend 10 minutes staring at a patch of daisies, it\u2019s quite nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stop spraying and shift your perspective
\n<\/strong>Eliminate or reduce pesticide use \u2013 and campaign in your community for public authorities to do so, too. \u201cPesticides are designed to kill, but they are often indiscriminate and harm not only their target species, but also any other insects that happen to be present,\u201d Larkin says. \u201cEliminating or reducing the use of chemicals in our outdoor spaces would be enormously beneficial \u2013 it will have a big impact on not just solitary bees, but much of our other wildlife, too.\u201d (It\u2019s one of the goals of Buglife\u2019s\u00a0No Insectinction campaign.)<\/p>\n

Not tackling what were traditionally perceived as \u201cpests\u201d requires a mindset shift, but it can be enormously rewarding. \u201cWhen you really get your eye in, you can sit in one spot and see so many different types of flying insects, pollinators, mining bees just visiting one patch,\u201d Larkin says. \u201cIf you do create places for them, they will visit, and it\u2019s a real delight to watch them and to know that you\u2019ve helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Emma Beddington was first published by The Guardian on 8 April 2026. Lead Image: Composite: Guardian Design; Edward Phillips\/Alamy.<\/i><\/p>\n

What you can do<\/h2>\n

Protect wildlife by making a monthly donation as little as $5.<\/em><\/p>\n