I'd been thinking about building a bug hotel for some time and whilst looking at ideas on the internet I came across a 'How to Build a Bug Hotel' video on YouTube by the Wildlife Gadget Man.
After watching his video I was inspired to build something very similar and over the course of a few months I gathered together all the materials I would need to make it.
Once I had my materials I then set about building it. I've documented the building process here in this post, I hope it serves to help inspire others into building a Bug Hotel in their garden.
Main Materials
20 x Grey Reconstituted
Stone Concrete Common Bricks
(H)65mm x (W)103mm x (L)215mm
5 x sheets of Plyboard
(L)430mm x (W) 380mm (w) x (H)9mm
Other Materials
in no particular order
Some old Tree Roots removed from Garden
Some small rocks
Some Chinese Rainbow cobbles
Some Wooden Blocks
with varous size holes drilled into them
Bamboo Cane of various sizes
cut and crammed
into some old square drainpipe
Plenty of Drinking Straws
crammed into old plastic piping
My girls agreed to trim the straws
for me if I gave each of them a pound coin
Here is my youngest Daughter
making sure the straws are all the same length
Plenty of trimmed straws now
The last few straws and a pound well earned!
Some Wildflower Seed
for the top of the Bug Hotel
Some old Toilet Roll Tubes
Straws cut, some offcut of carpet rolled up,
some corrogated cardboard
rolled up into some pieces of
old square drainpipe and a plastic bottle.
Building the Bug Hotel
Bottom Bricks layed down on flat surface
Bottom Layer consists of
Small Rocks and Pine Cones
Next Layer consists of
Old Tree Roots, grass and leaves
Here is my eldest Daughter adding
the old tree roots whilst trying
not to put her foot into Wildlife Pond Project #1
Next Layer consists of
Some Rolled up Carpet, Stacked Slate,
Grass and an Heavy Duty Rubble Sack
Next Layer consists of
Drink Straws, Pine Cones, Sawdust,
Grass and old Toilet Roll Tubes
Next Layer consists of
Bamboo Canes, Wood Blocks
and Rolled up Corrogated Cardboard
Here my daughter is filling
in the gaps with leaves and grass
Leaves now added
Grass now added
Hey up we are being watched!
The top layer consisting of
a planter tray screwed to the plyboard,
filled with compost and topped off
with a sprinkling of some wildflower seed mix.
We added the cobbles
to help weigh the top down.
The final result
A closer view
A view of the Bug Hotel from the Garden
Friday evening, ten minutes by the pond
