After a lunch break with bread rolls and coffee, we continued by building small nesting aids made of bamboo tubes. Measuring, sawing, grinding – with a little manual skill and patience, everyone could assemble their nesting aid. Afterwards there was a talk about the wild bees in Sammatz, which are currently the subject of intense research. The various wild bee species – such as wasp bees, sand bees, blood bees or silk bees – were introduced. Some specimens were passed around and could be viewed with magnifying glasses. As so often with natural history topics, the variety and the fascinating details were the most inspiring aspects. No two bee species are the same, and their ways of life are radically different. Some live solitarily, others in municipalities. There are still somewhat unexplored ways of life, such as the formation of small groups with unrelated workers and changing queens were presented.
