I just found a few really good links!! (August 2011). One is in German but it has TONS of pictures that really help explain what is going on. (It's kinds freaky because some of it is so similar to some of the stuff I did). It is on a much larger scale than anything I did and definitely worth importing to North America.

http://www.wildbienen.de/wbs-bsta.htm

And another is in English http://www.foxleas.com/bee_house.htm



http://resonatingbodies.wordpress.com/ seems to be artists and scientists coming together to make beautiful bee habitat.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1407357@N20/ is pictures of home made bee and wasp houses.

Don't be afraid of solitary wasps, they rarely sting, "she who runs away, can lay an egg tomorrow" and all that. Its the sterile frustrated social wasps and bees that cannot lay eggs that do most of the stinging.

You can just bundle teasel stems, or raspberry canes or any hollow stem or reed and produce bee habitat. http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/520_0/critter-care/orachard-mason-bees Dave from Camas, Washington has been bundling teasel stems for several years and some of his pics are at the link above. And they work!

http://www.cirrusimage.com/hymenoptera.htm Bees wasps and ants of north America

It should be noted that wasps, even Yellow Jackets perform pollination. I have seen them work hard on dill. Those yellow jackets also spend a lot of time eating aphids and caterpillars on trees. So in the ecosystem, they are an important part of the puzzle.

Here is a nice link to the solitary bees of the UK http://www.moraybeekeepers.co.uk/solitary_bees.htm

A guy in Toronto has just identified 19 NEW species of bee. Which means 19 more species of bees to save! (I think the thing in their picture is a hoverfly, it is hard to see but bees have 4 wings and a long tongue). The link is here http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/new-bee-species-discovered-during-downtown-toronto-commute.php







