Activities & Days Out / 20 April, 2018 / Nanny Anita

Celebrate Earth Day with a Bee Water Station

On Sunday it will be Earth Day, in honour of this day YC and I made a bee water station for the garden. Bees can tend to at least 2,000 flowers in a single day. All flying means that it is important that they have access to a safe water source. Bees often risk drowning in birdbaths or being eaten by other creatures along rivers and lakes. Having a couple of these bee water stations set up around the garden not only helps them out, but also might mean that on a hot day they are less likely to bother us if we’re playing around in the paddling pool.

Make sure you follow my outdoor activity board on Pinterest for more ideas. Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

You will need:

• Plastic or glass tub
• Stones – big and little ones
• Water

Find a bee friendly spot (or spots) in your garden to build your bee water station. We built ours in the flowerbed that had the most plants in that are likely to attract the bees. We also made sure it was in a part of it that the dogs are less likely to get at it.

collecting stones

Fill your tub with a variety of stones. You need to have some bigger ones in there that will stick out of the water. These parts will give the bees a place to rest while they are having a drink.  Next fill up the tub with some water.

Putting the finishing touches to it.

If you can try to change the water out every couple of days. You don’t want the water to become stagnant, as standing water becomes a breading ground for mosquitos.

You can just make out our baby bee.

YC was very interested to go back out into the garden after tea to see if any bees were having a drink. Although we didn’t see any there, we did find a baby bee amongst some of BB’s toys! We carefully removed the bee with a stick and placed it near to the water station in case it was thirsty.

Extra tip about bees

As the weather gets hotter, you are more likely to come across exhausted bees. If you do come across a bee that doesn’t seem to be doing anything try giving them a bit of sugar water to help revive them. The RSPB suggests mixing 2 tbls of granulated sugar with 1 tbls of water. It is very important NOT TO GIVE THEM HONEY!

Bees play such an important part in assisting in our food supply; lets give something back to them the Earth day.

If you are interesting in making a home for nature in your garden be sure to check out some of my bird feeder ideas like these loo roll ones, up-cycled milk carton ones, or these cookie cutter shaped ones.

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