Sand lens
Sand lenses are habitats created from sand and serve as nesting sites for lizards and wild bees in particular.
Material:
When setting up sand lenses for small animals, it is important to choose a sand that meets the needs of the species you want to keep.
- Gravel for drainage
- Lizards: unwashed sand from a DIY store
- Wild bees: special wild bee sand (e.g. Ricoter wild bee sand)
- Optional: stones, tree trunks, rootstocks and/or thorny branches
Construction:
A sand lens should be installed between October and February, as the wild bees start to build their nesting tubes in March and therefore need to be undisturbed. The wild bee season begins in March and the first bee species build their nesting tubes.
- Dig a pit approx. 50 cm wide and 35 cm deep
- Add 5 cm of gravel to the pit to prevent waterlogging
- Fill the rest of the pit with the appropriate sand
- To prevent erosion of the sand lens, secure the edge with stones, tree trunks or rootstocks
- Leave a strip of meadow or herbaceous border around the sand lens. This allows small animals to hide from predators such as birds of prey
- To prevent the sand lens from becoming a cat litter box: cover with a few thorny branches
Function:
- Serves as a nesting site for reptiles, wild bees and other insects
Location:
- Sunny
- For lizards: next to reptile burrow or herbaceous border
- For wild bees: on a ruderal area
Care:
- Cut off the plants that grow too densely or too quickly by hand, but do not weed or mow
- Mow the herbaceous border only once a year in two stages in the fall to provide sufficient cover for small animals
- If the sand pile is overgrown or washed away: build the new sand lens in a different place and do not pour new sand onto the old location so that wild bees or larvae that are already in the soil can hatch and are not buried alive
Further links, brochures and leaflets:
Tips for growing a sand lens for lizards (German only)
Tips for growing a sand lens for insects (German only)
