Earth Blocks UK Ltd are an established company that manufacture and supply natural, sustainable earthen cob bricks and cob blocks to the construction industry and beyond. Whilst renowned for innovation within our product range and a widely respected expertise of earth-based materials, we set about creating a reactive habitat for solitary bees.
In the wild, there are approximately 240 different species of solitary bee. Arguably, the most common species is the red mason bee. Without prejudice to other species of bees (unmistakeably they are all important) studies conclude that solitary bees are far more efficient at collecting pollen than their colonial cousins. Red masonry bees will nest in wall crevices and particularly take advantage of loose, wall mortars. Female masonry bees are undoubtedly the homemakers and will furnish the nest accordingly to protect her eggs. Each female will lay an egg towards the back of the nest and then partition it off…..and so on until the nest is full. Having laid the last egg, she will then close-up the nest using mud. Commonplace in the south west of England, masonry bees will take up residence in exposed cob walling and it is not difficult to understand why….she has a ready source of barricading material.
A Reactive Habitat for Solitary Bees
Our unique Cobbee bricks provide a convenient advantage for the bees with 8 ready-made tunnels. The tunnels are 8mm in diameter and 25mm in depth and can of course be extended if the bees so wish. Our Cobbee brick also offers the bees sufficient, to-hand material to construct their tunnel chambers. We must therefore emphasise that this product will almost certainly be impacted upon over the course of several years, however, for those of you doing the maths this equates to less than 1p a day (and this is the worst case scenario)!
Where can I put my Cobbee brick?
Correct positioning of our unique Cobbee brick is quite important as this will encourage activity and longevity.
- Ensure the Cobbee brick is situated under cover IT MUST NOT GET WET!
- Research indicates that a suitable height (from the ground) is between 1m and 1.5m
- If the Cobbee brick can be south facing, great! But this isn’t imperative.
…..and that’s it! You can sit back and enjoy the show!
