How To Make A Bug Hotel

Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Bug hotels are a wonderful additions to any garden. They can be made with lots of things you can find in your garden or on a walk round the woods. Not only are they a lot of fun to make, they provide a safe habitat for lots of beneficial insects to shelter in. You could attract all sorts of guests from ladybirds to lacewings, beetles to bees. Here’s how to make a bug hotel…

You will need:

An old wooden box or some wood to create one
Broken pieces of pots
Pine cones
Moss
Straw
Old tin can
Bamboo canes
Piece of wood for drilling
Hammer and nails
Drill

To make:

1. Find an old wooden box you don’t need anymore or make one using some old off-cuts of wood. This is your structure which you will fill with lots of lovely things. It can be whatever size or shape you wish.

2. Get some wood and drill different sized holes to attract bees.

Drill holes in a piece of wood (more appropriate footwear is recommended!)

3. Fill a tin can with some cut up pieces of bamboo cane.

4. Stack some broken pieces of terracotta pot or slates inside your box

Old broken pieces of terracotta pots are perfect for stacking inside your bug hotel

5. Stuff pine cones, straw and moss into the spaces.

Stuff lots of straw, moss and pine cones into all the gaps

And there you have it, a 5 star hotel, suitable for the most glamorous of bug guests! Pop it into a quiet corner of the garden and you will soon be fully booked!