Good practices

How to promote the presence of wild bees in our gardens?

Covert

For a population of a wild bee species to be sustainably maintained, the habitat must offer the following 3 elements:

Food resources, that is to say a sufficient and varied supply of flowers, meeting their need for nectar and pollen.

A specific nesting place: bare soil surfaces, plant species with hollow stems, …

Specific materials for nesting (soil, small pebbles, resin, plant hair), to make the partitions separating each laying cell (food reserve used for the development of a larva) and to block the entrance to the nest.

Wildflowers

Photo : Eva Thibon

Let nature do its thing

Shifting mowing periods and leaving a few areas without mowing helps maintain a floral resource over the entire period of appearance of wild bees and wild pollinators in general.

For too rich soils, it is possible to evacuate mowed or mowed grasses which will impoverish the soil and find a greater diversity of flowers. A pasture, limited in time and rotating, can be considered.

It is also essential to remove plant protection products from the management of these green spaces.

Plantation

Our wild bees and pollinators are not adapted to exotic flowers (California poppies, butterfly tree, …), which is why it is important to favor the local flora.

For this, some nurseries offer seedlings and seeds of local origin under the brand “Végétal local”. It is also possible to favor short circuits and / or alternative methods: cutting sampling, hay transfer or root ball division.

Here are some examples of species useful for feeding wild pollinators :

Common name	Height (m)	Flowering	Flower color
Liondent False dandelion	0,05>0,2	May-July	Rose
Field mustard	0,3>0,8	May-September	Yellow
Spread campanule	0,4>0,8	May-August	Blue
Bird Cabaret	1	July-September	Rose
Honeysuckle	liane	June-September	White
Hedgerows	liane	June-September	White
Callune	0,3>1	July-October	Rose
Four-angle heather	0,3>0,8	June-October	Rose
Broom broom	2>4	April-July	Yellow
Hybrid clover	0,2>0,5	May-July	White, rose
Terrestrial ivy	0,05>0,25	March-May	Blue
Little Mauve	0,1>0,5	June-September	White
Poppy	0,2>0,6	May-July	Rose
Sterile strawberry	0,05>0,1	March-May	White

Below, here is a list of trees to favor :

Common name	Height (m)	Florwering	Flower color
Medlar	2>4	May-June	White
Hawthorn to a style	4>10	May	White
Blackthorn	0,5>2	April	White
Alisier of the woods	3>20	May	White
Alisier of the woods	5>25	April-May	Yellow
Marsault Willow	3>18	March-April	Green

The creation of an orchard or vegetable garden can also be a way to favor wild pollinators through the planting of species useful for feeding pollinators.

Diversifying habitats

Habitat diversification is an essential link in the reception of wild pollinators. Like what:
– The creation of a water point,such as a pond. This allows, among other things, to maintain a floral resource even in case of drought.
– The implantation of hedgerow. It provides an abundant food resource as well as breeding habitats.

Covert

For terricolated bees

These species are quite undemanding. They can be found in lawns, under grass, or on trails continuously used by walkers, bicycles, ….

Possible developments: Pile of sandy earth, sand, or loose earth without pebbles, on a sunny area, against a wall or on the ground 20 to 30 cm deep.

Photo : Ville de Lille

For squatting bees

Some bees have a great ability to adapt and can settle in various types of natural or artificial crevices.

Possible developments: Construction of dry stone walls of traditional construction (without joints). These walls can be mounted in such a way as to create an aromatic spiral that will be a privileged place for wild bees.

Photo : 4d44 (wikimedia.fr)

For carpenter bees

These bees will come to dig their nests in the soft wood wormed or in the process of decomposition.

Possible developments: Maintenance of living trees but also of dead standing, felled or fallen trees as well as logs and branches on land.

Photo : Kai-Martin Knaak (wikimedia.fr)

For curular bees

These species do not dig their own nest but take advantage of stems already evided, such as those used in insect hotels (reeds, cane of Provence, …).

Several shrubs and shrubs provide a particularly important and abundant resource of hollow stems, the main ones are:
–Honeysuckle
– Gorse
– The brambles / mulberry trees, real natural “bee hotels” and sources of delicacies for us.

Possible developments: Maintenance of suitable plants such as certain ronciers.