"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message
from Michael Bell contains these words:

Ah! A lady who knows something that I want to know. My daughter gave
me a bumblebee nesting box for Christmas and I followed the
instructions which said that a mouse nest should be put in the nesting
box to attract bees, so I got my local pet shop to stable his mice
overnight in hay and put that hay into the box (Ah, the obligation
that some gifts put on you!), but no bees settled in it. What more can
I do? It'll have to be next season now of course.

You can find a discarded robin's nest if you can't find a fieldmouse
nest. It's not the mouse having been there, I suspect, but the very fine
ready-woven fabric that fieldmice use for their nests which is
attractive.

The bumble bees collect their own nesting material. If there's anything
suitable to hand they might well use it.

I once found a bumble bee nest in a hedge, it was very beautiful. Almost
spherical and 'woven' from moss, very small twigs, grass leaves and all
sorts of other things. A joy.

Mary