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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 34
WASPS AND BEES (HYMENOPTERA) IN THE SUFFOLK SANDLINGS AND MANAGEMENT FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THESE INSECTS. M. EDWARDS The Suffolk Sandlings form a distinctive coastal strip of heathland, lying roughly between Lowestoft to the north and Felixstowe to the south. These heathlands have developed on tracts of light, sandy soils, underlain by clays which occasionally reach the surface or which may be brought to the surface by agricultura! or forestry Operations together with calcareous ragstone outcrops. They have climatic, physical, florisitic and faunal features in common with the extensive Brecks to the north-west, but also, perhaps surprisingly, with the band of heaths developed over light sands at the western edge of the Weald. In particular there are several species of bees and wasps which are found on both the Wealden Edge heaths and the Sandlings, but not on the Brecks. The Sandlings also share their relative lack of entomological recording with the Wealden Edge heaths, both areas being overshadowed by larger, more accessible, areas of heathland fairly nearby. However, in both the Sandlings and the Wealden Edge heaths, the small scale patchwork of light sandy heath, clay and calcareous outcrops present provides a great diversity of potential niches in a small space, leading to a high local faunistic diversity which has only recently begun to be appreciated. DĂźring 1996 and 1997 I was commissioned jointly by English Nature, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to carry out a survey of the aculeate Hymenoptera of the Sandlings in order to provide a modern assessment of the importance of the Sandlings for this group of insects and to provide management advice for their conservation. This latter aim was particularly relevant in the context of the opportunities for heathland conservation and restoration within the Sandlings Project. The surveys were made at selected target sites within the Sandlings with visits made during April, May, June and August. Although this was the most systematic and far-ranging survey known to us it still falls far short of what is needed to provide a thorough coverage of the aculeate Hymenoptera of the area. Hence, it is expected than many more species will eventually be found in the Sandlings. The main areas surveyed were Walberswick, Minsmere/ Dunwich and Blaxhall/Tunstall, with occasional visits made to Westleton, Leiston and Sutton. Survey was by direct Observation and hand-netting, as many aculeates need to be examined under the microscope for accurate identification. Prior to this survey, information on the aculeate fauna of the Sandlings was available by sifting the information given in Claude Morley's 1935 paper on the Hymenoptera of Suffolk; a short report on a number of Sandlings heaths by Michael Archer in 1987 and the species list compiled by Lee Chadwick for her book 'In Search of Heathland'. Of these sources, Morley's paper needs to be used with great caution, being a compilation of earlier published records; several times he lists the same species under different names, giving different comments each time! Archer's survey was, like the 1996/7 one, targeted on a
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 34 (1998)