Detailed Description

Oxford Plan Bee is an initiative to provide a window into the world of our city’s solitary bees.
The project aims to create a network of bee hotels across the city of Oxford and in Wytham Woods (an area of ancient woodland just outside the city). These bee hotels will improve the value of the University and city infrastructure as habitat for cavity-nesting solitary bees. Cavity-nesting solitary bees do not live in big colonies, are excellent pollinators, and are harmless to humans, so they’re ideal for a space that is shared with people, such as gardens, courtyards, or any public area that includes flowering plants.
The nest-boxes also offer a research opportunity. Not only is it possible to observe occupancy and species diversity year to year in the different habitats, it’s possible to collect bees and nest material from the hotels to analyse forage plant species (through pollen analysis) and to study the population genetics of the bees. 
For more information see the Oxford Plan Bee website.