earwig patrol

the bees have been in place for a bit more then twenty-four hours and it looks as if about half have hatched out...earwigs infested the bee houses last season and they are at it again...repulsive things though they are hey are more scavengers than predators...looking for leftover pollen and such...they may disrupt the bees but not kill them...i did some research and one simple action was to hang dampened newspaper from the bee houses...allegedly the moisture will attract the earwigs from the house and into the newspaper and the whole lot can then go into the compost...so i am trying it out tonight and we'll see what the results are...after i hung the newspaper i went looking for round holes in leaves on rose plants, lilacs, hostas, and rhubarb...signs that leafcutter bees are busy nesting..i found round holes in rhubarb, the rose bush ( oddly the leaf is totally out of focus but the hole comes through sharply ), and on one of the lilacs...they may not have been made by my bees but they are evidence that leafcutters are about and working...i will be looking for them in the morning and i will ( hopefully ) be disposing of earwigs tomorrow as well