{"id":4585,"date":"2025-06-06T17:57:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T16:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4585"},"modified":"2025-06-06T17:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T16:57:45","slug":"making-a-small-sand-mound-for-mining-bees-to-nest-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4585","title":{"rendered":"Making a small sand mound for mining bees to nest in"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"409\" height=\"907\" data-id=\"4586\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1closeupareaclearedofvegetation1squaremetreandlaidgravel.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1closeupareaclearedofvegetation1squaremetreandlaidgravel.jpg 409w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1closeupareaclearedofvegetation1squaremetreandlaidgravel-135x300.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1508\" height=\"679\" data-id=\"4587\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2mixingonepartbuildersandwith2partstopsoilsobinds.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2mixingonepartbuildersandwith2partstopsoilsobinds.jpg 1508w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2mixingonepartbuildersandwith2partstopsoilsobinds-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2mixingonepartbuildersandwith2partstopsoilsobinds-768x346.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2mixingonepartbuildersandwith2partstopsoilsobinds-624x281.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1508px) 100vw, 1508px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"409\" height=\"907\" data-id=\"4588\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3puttinglayerson.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3puttinglayerson.jpg 409w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3puttinglayerson-135x300.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Step by step guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1. Find a sunny, warm area 1m2 and clear it of vegetation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2. Lay a base of gravel for good drainage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3. Bees prefer loamy soil, but if you don&#8217;t have any try to replicate loamy soil by mixing one bag of builders&#8217; sand with 2 bags of top soil to get a good consistency that binds together. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4. Add it little by little on top of the gravel, layer by layer, patting it down as you go.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5. Keep going until you have a 400mm high mound.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"409\" height=\"907\" data-id=\"4591\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/6.sandmoundstpauls.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4591\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/6.sandmoundstpauls.jpg 409w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/6.sandmoundstpauls-135x300.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1508\" height=\"679\" data-id=\"4590\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pebblesaddedforbeestonestunderorusetowarmup.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4590\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pebblesaddedforbeestonestunderorusetowarmup.jpg 1508w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pebblesaddedforbeestonestunderorusetowarmup-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pebblesaddedforbeestonestunderorusetowarmup-768x346.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/pebblesaddedforbeestonestunderorusetowarmup-624x281.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1508px) 100vw, 1508px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>6. Add some large stones\/pebbles to the base as some bees may bask on them to warm up, or they may shelter underneath or behind on windy days, or make their holes in between the stones. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7. Monitor to see if any holes are made and who may be nesting in your sand mound. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/konstantinos-tsiolis-3a270b83\/?originalSubdomain=uk\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/konstantinos-tsiolis-3a270b83\/?originalSubdomain=uk\">Dr Konstantinos Tsiolis<\/a>, whose PhD was on nesting sites for mining bees,  for his advice and help with this project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step by step guide Thanks to Dr Konstantinos Tsiolis, whose PhD was on nesting sites for mining bees, for his advice and help with this project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,116,117],"class_list":["post-4585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","tag-bee-nests","tag-mining-bees","tag-sand-mound"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4592,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions\/4592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}