Native Bee Scene Trail
The West Perth Bee Scene Trail takes visitors around the central village of West Perth. The trail aims to educate visitors about the importance of native bees and how to encourage them into their backyards. The trail is full of sculptures, art murals, bee hotels and wildflower gardens. By scanning a QR code along the trail, you will be taken to the WALN website to find out more about each feature.
Native Bee Mural and Sculpture
Outram Street, near the corner of Hay street
This beautiful mural was created by Laeline Design and showcases some of the amazing bee species we have in Perth and what plants you can plant to bring them into your garden.
The blue banded bee, Amegilla sp., sculpture was made and installed by Respoke and shows how the male bees roost at night by holding onto stems with their mandibles. The sculpture is within a native wildflower garden containing some of the bees favourite flowers like native wisteria (Hardenbergia comptoniana) and emu Bush (Eremophila nivea). There is also a large wooden bee hotel on the wall.
You can pick up a free copy of our native bee fact sheet from BooBook Bottle and Bar just around the Corner on Hay Street.
City of Perth Carpark
25-27 Mayfair Street
The two bee hotels in this Mayfair Street garden depict a Banksia and everlasting flower, which are a favourite among native bees. These hotels have holes ranging from 4mm to 10mm diameter to accommodate a range of cavity nesting bees. They are placed in a spot that receives morning sun and have a roof to protect their cavity entrances from rainfall.
These hotels are not used by the European honeybee but native solitary bees such as leaf cutter bees and resin bees.
If you look closely, you will see holes that have been capped by native bees.
Stables Bee Hotel
21a Mayfair Street
This bee hotel was designed to model the heritage listed stables building behind it. The hotel has jarrah sleepers inside it with hole sizes between 4mm and 8mm diameter. It is important to ensure your use untreated wood for bee hotel cavities. It has been orientated to receive morning sun and afternoon shade which is ideal for nesting bees.
These hotels are not used by the European honeybee but native solitary bees such as leaf cutter bees and resin bees.
Native bees have already moved into this Bee Hotel and have started to cap the holes.
Mayfair Flats Bee Hotels
17 – 19 Mayfair Street
The two bee hotels in this Mayfair Street garden depict a Eucalyptus blossom and Geraldton wax flowers, which are both a favourite among native bees. These hotels have holes ranging from 4mm to 10mm diameter to accommodate a range of cavity nesting bees. They are placed in a spot that receives morning sun and have a roof to protect their cavity entrances from rainfall.
These hotels are not used by the European honeybee but native solitary bees such as leaf cutter bees and resin bees.
Can you see any bees nesting in the bee hotels?
Atlas Cafe Window Decals + Bee Hotel
1238 Hay Street
The beautiful decals on the Atlas cafe show two Megachile species of bees among a field of everlastings, Rhodanthe sp., with a Banksia menziesii flower and a Tuart tree canopy.
If you look carefully you can see a resin bee (Megachile erythropyga) nesting in the hollow of the tree trunk. The female leaf cutter bee (Megachile sp) is collecting pollen for her future offspring using her abdomen hairs.
There is also a female blue banded bee pollinating a fringe lily, Thysanotus multiflorus. Females have four stripes while males have five.
Stop here to view these gorgeous designs and the native bees favourite wildflowers in the planter boxes. The planter boxes contain native flowers bees love to feed on. Knotted club rush (Ficinia nodosa) was also planted to give the male bees a roosting spot at night. The bee hotel and gumnuts scattered in the planter boxes provide nesting spots for female native bees.
Burrowing Bee Beds
25-27 Mayfair Street
Two bee beds have been set up in conjunction with the City of Perth to create habitat for our native bees that nest in the ground.
Many species such as the female blue-banded bee (Amegilla spp) dig shallow individual tunnel burrows in bare soil to lay their eggs. While these bees are soliatary, they often group their burrows close together. They excavate the burrow using their jaws and then fill the cell with a mixture of pollen and nectar before laying a single egg and sealing the burrow.
If you want to attract native bees to your garden, make sure you leave some areas of bare earth for our burowing species to nest in.
Amok Island Mural
1232 Hay St West Perth
These striking metallic green burrowing bees (Ctenocolletes smaragdinus) are found in the Perth hills and inland heaths in southern WA. You may hear the males but only catch a glimpse as they fly swiftly by on patrol of their area.
The females make solitary nests in deep sand, burrowing to almost 2 metres. Once they have made their burrows, they collect nectar and pollen from nearby wildflowers. They deposit this food into their burrow and lay an egg with it and seal off the cell. They continue to do this until the burrow is full. There has been a significant reduction in this bee’s population size due to land clearing.
During Kambarang to Birak (November to January) each grass tree (Xanthorrhoea preissii) crown may send up one flower spike. Each spike contains thousands of small white flowers, which are an important food source for insects, birds and mammal pollinators.
Kings Park Bee Hotels
Poolgarla Parkland and Rio Tinto Naturescape
