What Happened to The Mason Bees in 2012 ?
Several people have asked me this question – well the La Nina weather did it, yes we can blame it on the weather.
First – The Mason Bees which normally hatch in early March waited until April 1 and that was no joke.
Second – After an active couple of weeks in April a nasty northern cold front moved in and wiped out most of the early hatchers.
Third – a lot of plants which normally bloom early in the spring were delayed by the cold wet weather reducing the feed stock available to the Mason Bees.
Lastly – Mason Bees which are normally active into June were finished by mid-May.
Our production at Royston House is down about 2/3 from last year. Fortunately we have been building a base of Mason Bee homes for the past few years.
Good News – this was a great year for Native Bumble Bees and with the late huge bloom they expanded dramatically looking after all flower pollination of fruit trees and plants. There were many kind of Bumble Bees this year that we haven’t seen before so Nature is really working with us.