Allotment wildlife

There are a number of wild plants and animals which are characteristic of the allotments that are best for wildlife. A number of these - often the more obvious or 'popular' ones - have been selected as ‘flagship species’. For the boroughs of Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham, they are: house sparrow; blackbird; robin; wren; song thrush; goldfinch; kestrel; sparrowhawk; frog; newt; hedgehog; fox; wood mouse; slow-worm; ivy (climbing).

Bees pollinate trees, flowers, fruit and vegetables in your garden - but they need help. Did you know that every third mouthful of our food is directly or indirectly dependent on the unmanaged pollination services of bees?

Bees are very important to the garden’s natural balance and are essential for pollination of fruit, vegetables and herbs. It is now possible to provide nests for the Red Mason Bee, Osmia rufa and in so doing, be proactive in the ethical management of pollination in your garden. And at the same time, you will be helping to conserve not only this very efficient pollinator of fruit trees and spring flowers, but also several other wild bee species which will also use these nests. These bees nesting boxes provide solitary bees (the blue orchard bee and the red mason bee) and bumble bees with ideal sites to lay eggs. Siting these in your garden will increase bee numbers leading to better pollination of flowers etc.

Osmia rufa is a solitary bee. That is, each nest is the work of a single female, working alone. There is no caste of workers. Nevertheless, the species is gregarious. That is, females seem to be attracted to sites already being used by other females.

The species has an annual life-cycle and is active in spring and early summer, from late March to the end of June. It is widespread in England and Wales and occurs as far north as Edinburgh. It is absent from Ireland, but extends across the whole of Europe and even penetrates south into the Mediterranean Basin.

Both sexes are densely clothed with reddish brown hairs, with the male having a dense tuft of white hairs on the front of the head and the female's head being entirely black haired. Males are 6-11mm long, while the more robust females are 10-16mm in length.