Kin Kin Native Bees is building up numbers of solitary native bees by providing nesting blocks and houses. Solitary bees make up the vast majority of Australia’s roughly 1,500 native bee species.
Blue-banded bees (Amegilla sp.)
These attractive bees have bands of pale blue metallic hair around their abdomen. They are among the native species capable of buzz pollination, and are useful on tomatoes, chillies and other plants that need vibration to release pollen.
Fire-tailed resin bee (Megachile mystaceana)
This bee nests in holes in wooden blocks. It creates individual compartments within each hole, provisions each with pollen and nectar, then seals the end with resin and mud.
Leafcutter and leaf-faced bees
Leafcutter bees line timber nest holes with circular or oval pieces of leaf. Leaf-faced bees can be encouraged into artificial wooden-block nests and line their nests with a waterproof, cellophane-like material.
Bee village
One bee village at Kin Kin Native Bees is on the side of a tractor shed, with nesting-block entrances facing north-east.