What first looked like a problem under a strawberry patch turned into reassurance for one English gardener, who asked for help identifying a small burrowing insect.
After learning that the animal involved was nothing to fear, the overwhelming advice from the internet's insect community was simple: "Leaf them bee."
What happened?
Sharing a short clip of the insect in a Reddit thread, the original poster asked, "Can I get an ID of what exactly this is creating a home under my strawberry plants please? What is the ethical way to move it on as well? Thanks. NW England."
(Click here to watch the embedded video if it does not appear.)
The main message in the replies was to leave the insect where it was.
Commenters said it was a leafcutter bee, with one early response explaining, "I personally would just leave them bee. They are generally pretty docile."
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Several replies also cleared up a common assumption that the gardener may have believed. This was probably not the start of a hive. As one commenter wrote, "Leafcutters are solitary bees, this one is only making a home big enough for herself!"
Why does it matter?
Because many people think of bees as colony-dwellers that sting, a lone bee digging near garden plants can seem more alarming than it really is. Solitary bees behave very differently, which can make unfamiliar nesting activity easy to misread at first.
People in the thread noted that a leafcutter bee by the strawberry plants is not merely harmless — its presence can be useful, since bees aid pollination and fruit production.
One commenter added, "Not even a home for herself. When solitary bees build they're usually building a home for their offspring. Leafcutters wrap their eggs in leaf bits, mason bees build little clay cells, carpenter bees chew a tunnel in wood."
A setup like this is usually temporary, since solitary bees make small nesting chambers for eggs instead of establishing large colonies.
In other words, the Reddit discussion pointed to a simple answer to the relocation question: the most ethical option is likely to leave a helpful insect in place.
That feeling ran throughout the thread, with one commenter writing, "A little bee making herself a home in a strawberry plant. I love that for her."
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