[Pollinator] [beemonitoring]

[Barbara Passero]

Hi all,

We have an interesting challenge at our Waltham meadow site on a local property. Our
Meadow Club pollinator garden is adjacent to a former volley
ball court with a sandy floor. The sand is over 8 in. deep, and flying in and around
the sand court are a large number of sand wasps and bee wolves. 

>From the Friends of Bees, whom we queried: “The consensus from the Insects of New England group is that they are 
solitary wasps, most likely bee wolves. The wasps are more at risk of having their tunnels 
compacted than any humans are of getting stung. I don't think you need to do anything aside 
from making sure everyone keeps their shoes on.

I hope some of you have the time to watch them bringing provisions to their 
young in tunnels under the sand. The bee wolf captures honeybees and some native bees. It's 
sad for the bees, but the presence of predators means there is a thriving population. 
The bee wolves won't have that much of an impact and they are also pollinators.

The adults will probably be active for a few more weeks, and disappear. The 
larvae will quietly develop underground to emerge next year.”

The problem is that the owner of the property wants to get rid of the volley ball court, which is in the way of other activities, and all those bee larvae might not have the chance to develop.  I don’t know whether the owner could get anyone to take away the sand. We tried a few places that refused our request.

Any advice you can offer? Thanks! - Jean and Barbara

Barbara Passero, Director   Jean Devine, Co-Creator and Project Leader
MEADOWSCAPING for Biodiversity
174 Moody St. #244
Waltham, MA 02453
Office: 781-209-0052 Cell: 617-999-9546
bpassero at meadowmaking.org
http://www.meadowmaking.org


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20160730/9b496f33/attachment.html>