Hymenoptera Recorder’s Report 2013–14

Page 1

HEADER

19

Hymenoptera Recorder’s Report 2013–14 Adrian Knowles The grounds of the Center Parcs holiday village at Elveden have long been known as an important site for solitary bees and wasps, following survey work by Steven Falk for the company in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, when those surveys were undertaken, the site was still relatively new and open, with large areas of bare ground created during site development. In 2013, I was invited to spend some time re-visiting the site in order to see how the site has changed and, specifically, to try and determine whether or not the UK BAP species Cerceris quinquefasciata (Rossius) (the Five-banded Weevil Wasp) still occurred there. It does, but there are now relatively few suitable nesting locations for it, with it favouring relatively steep, sparsely vegetated banks with a southerly aspect and open to plenty of sunshine. Some other interesting species were also recorded during the survey, including only the third modern Suffolk record for the digger wasp Ectemnius ruficornis (Zetterstedt). This was recorded at Elveden by Falk in 2004, so it is good to know that it survives there. Also present was the bee Heriades truncorum (L.), this being the first record of this bee from the Suffolk Brecks (although it has been seen from nearby in Norfolk). It was also possible to confirm the survival of the large and distinctive mining bee Andrena hattorfiana (Fab.). This is a Nationally Rare (RDB3) bee that collects pollen from the flowers of Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) and occasionally Small Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria). It was found foraging at a very small stand of scabious plants along the southern perimeter of the site. In June 2013, Stuart Warrington of the National Trust provided the fifth modern Suffolk record for the mason wasp Odynerus spinipes (L.) from Orfordness. This species has records scattered across England and Wales, northwards to the Lake District, but is curiously scarce (or still very underrecorded) in East Anglia, with a handful of broadly coastal records from Norfolk and Suffolk. It builds small chimneys, constructed from soil particles and sand grains, over the mouth of its subterranean nest gallery, thought to be as a means of thwarting would-be brood parasites. This is a trait peculiar to Odynerus species and can be the first indication that these species are present at a site. During the summer of 2013, I assisted Paul Lee of Hymettus (and SNS spider/myriapod Recorder) in gathering data for a pilot study looking at the role of bees as pollinators in the countryside. This added some interesting new records of the bumblebee Bombus jonellus (Kirby), which is a heathland specialist, from Aldringham Walks and Sutton Common. Curiously, this bumblebee has yet to be recorded from the Breckland heaths. Also of interest during the pollinator study was the collection of a female Halictus confusus Bluthgen from Sutton. This is a small, brassy green mining bee that is Nationally Rare (RDB3) and, in Suffolk, had only previously been recorded in Breckland. This study also yielded two specimens of the scarce and declining Red-shanked Bumblebee Bombus ruderarius (Müller), from Icklingham north of Bury St Edmunds.

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 50 (2014)


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.