I’ve made a start on the bug hotel at last and after less than half an hour of working out how to stack the edging, I put down cardboard on top of the mint (of course now I think I should have put more, but never mind) and started building.

I’ve filled the middle of the cells with moss, decaying wood, fallen pine cones and needles, leaves, bark and so on. I’ve smashed up empty suet coconut shells and put them in, hessian strings attached. The remaining hügel sticks are going in to this and I’ve been picking up more stuff from the rec. I expect the big park might be visited again too.

I’m not sure how my design is going to work out as it grows, but I’m looking to integrate the previous bug box, some small terracotta pots, some bee holes and maybe the lacewing hotel (but its shape is more difficult.) A sloped roof would be best, but probably fairly impossible to make.