Insect Hotel

An insect hotel is an artificially created nesting and overwintering site for insects in the garden. More and more amateur gardeners are turning to this option to attract beneficial insects into their gardens and provide them with a permanent home, as a means of biological pest control.
Such a ""hotel"" not only serves a useful purpose, but is also a wonderful place for children and interested adults to observe and learn, and it looks quite decorative too.

Shelter is found here by bumblebees, wild bees, ichneumon wasps, potter wasps, digger wasps and spider wasps, lacewings and earwigs.

Insect hotels are made almost exclusively from natural materials, including wood (log slices, branches, wood wool), tree bark, straw, hay, reed, bamboo canes, brushwood, peat and clay. In addition, porous, perforated bricks, terracotta flowerpots and sometimes plastic tubes are commonly used as filling material, along with metal for fixings, and possibly pre-tensioned wire mesh to protect against birds, roofing felt or similar covers, as well as weather-resistant varnish on the construction timber used or for the colourful decoration of some wooden parts. It is important that the filling materials are dry and that all wood is free from chemical wood preservatives.
In terms of position (full sun/partial shade), choose a sunny but sheltered spot close to herbs, native plants of all kinds and flowers.