Bee without home organises workshops creating sustainable bee hotels from recycled and used materials.
The workshops take place at least once a month all over Utrecht. Here you learn everything you need to know about how to build and maintain bee hotels – and of course how to make sure it stays a success. The sessions are free and donations are welcome.
Which bees live in The Netherlands
There are around 370 different types of bee across The Netherlands. If you take a closer look at our gardens, it will be more around 20 to 50. They vary in body, lifestyle, and the time they are active. Their characters are different as well. Some lean towards being social. Others prefer solitude. Unfortunately these days bees – particularly the latter ones – face difficult times.
Solitaire bees
Solitaire (wild) bees are essential for the pollination of plants. A lot of these plants are part of our direct food chain. These wild bees differ from e.g. honey bees who live in colonies, headed by a queen.
Unfortunately wild bees have had a difficult time lately and consequently their population is diminishing. By removing their natural habitat e.g. in nature reserves and replacing it with (industrial-sized) farm land such as grains, wild bees can’t feed any more.
Bees in urban areas
In the past there was sufficient room voor bees to feed, live, pollinate, and breed. Think of spaces covered with rotten wood and grass, small openings in gaps, incl. in soft cement. By now the urban landscape has changed. Space is scarce and efficiently utilised by us. Almost every opening or gap is closed. Our efficiency takes away the places for bees to live.
How can we save the bees?
The easiest way to help homeless bees lies in bringing back nature where we can: our backyards, balconies, flowerbeds, and of course our roofs. By creating space for bees to nest as well as providing food (think of their beloved plants and flowers) we can really make a difference.
