In article , Kay
writes
In article , Miss
Perspicacia Tick writes

I can't help you, Mike, but whilst we're on the topic of encouraging useful
insects, could I ask you to consider purchasing a bumble bee box to go with
it (they're not that expensive)? My grandfather bought three years ago and
it's been occupied ever since. We have lost nearly 50% of the species we had
in this country (I can't remember how many there were to begin with) and, of
the remainder, nearly half are in serious trouble.

Why are they in trouble? Is it because of lack of nesting places? I
think that's the reason behind the decline of some of the bees that
burrow into dry bare earthy places. But if it's for some other reason
that they're declining, a bumble bee box isn't necessarily going to
help, although encouraging them to your own garden rather than somewhere
else is always nice :-)

Think I've answered my own question:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/outdoors/...mblebees.shtml

Seems to be suggesting that it's foodstuffs that are the problem -we
need to plant more buddleias, lavender, rosemary, heather, honeysuckle,
cornflower and foxglove.

Also says that bumblebees only use the same nest for a single year,
which suggests buying bumblebee boxes might get a tad expensive ;-)
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:

Seems to be suggesting that it's foodstuffs that are the problem -we
need to plant more buddleias, lavender, rosemary, heather, honeysuckle,
cornflower and foxglove.

The garden I've just left we had planted with broom, lupins, foxgloves,
spirea, lavender, cornflowers, honeysuckle and a small buddleia. There
were always large numbers of bumblebees about, at least three distinct
species. They were particularly keen on the foxgloves and lupins.

New garden has a large buddleia, a honeysuckle, lavender, spirea and
large numbers of azaleas and rhododenrons. Plus a whole pile of stuff
we haven't identified yet. It's too early to tell yet what the bees
think of it.

On a slightly different topic, there are large numbers of robins,
blackbirds, and thrushes in the new garden. The robins in particular
are very tame and come worm-hunting within a couple of feet of me when
I'm digging. They don't mind me and they don't mind the thrushes but
they fly from my husband and from the blackbirds.

Rhiannon

Rhiannon Miller writes:

On a slightly different topic, there are large numbers of robins,
blackbirds, and thrushes in the new garden. The robins in particular
are very tame and come worm-hunting within a couple of feet of me when
I'm digging.

One of my robins is quite happy to come close when I'm out disturbing
soil. This can lead to problems when spreading a heap of compost over
a bed about 6ft away, you wouldn't think that something so small could
give such an effective glare. It's not as if anything else is going to
beat it to a tasty grub if it waits for the next shovel full to land,
standing in the landing zone with beak open is not the best plan...

Still more intelligent than the Cambridge Cable installers who appear
to have thought that laying the wire an inch below the surface and
diagonally across a patch of lawn was a good idea. Quite how I managed
to miss it in the past when I was spiking the moss patch I don't know.

Anthony