How to build a bug hotel

What kinds of bug hotels can I build?

You will need sticks and twigs (ideally hollow ones), dead leaves, and flowers from your last arrangement, such as bark, moss, grass, and maybe pine cones. 

If a multi-storey mansion seems a bit daunting at the start, try these three simpler versions. 

The bug hostel, if you like, is super easy. All you need in addition to your natural materials is a plastic bottle cut into two cylinders and some string or wire to fix to a tree. 

Simply cut the bottle to size, hang the hotel(s) in a tree or position them on the ground and fill them tightly with your materials. Easy!

Other ways to create simple structures for the little critters in and around your garden are a log pile or little homes made from terracotta pots.

A log pile is super extra easy: Just pile logs, sticks and rotten wood in a pile in a damp and shady spot, stuff leaves in the gaps and voilá, you’ve created a lovely resting spot for beetles. 

For a pot pad, you can grab an old terracotta pot and tightly pack hollow stems into it. Put it in a dry sunny spot (make sure it’s placed at a slight angle so rain can drain out) and wait for guests like bees to arrive. 

If you want to really commit to your insect hosting, you can go for the five star, multi-storey version. You’ll need bricks, wooden boxes or pallets and of course the usual twigs, hollow stems, dead leaves and grass, maybe pine cones and bark. 

Use the bricks as sturdy corners, then pile boxes or pallets safely between them and stuff them with your natural materials. Leave larger gaps and holes for our bigger friends like frogs, toads or hedgehogs and smaller holes for beetles, centipedes, solitary bees and other critters. 

For full points, plant some wildflowers around your bug hotel to attract lovely butterflies, too, while your hotel guests enjoy the garden views.