HYMENOPTERA RECORDER’S REPORT 2012

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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 48 HYMENOPTERA RECORDER’S REPORT 2012 ADRIAN KNOWLES

Climate impacts Across the spectrum of invertebrate natural history, 2012 will probably go down as one of the worst for many years. After a promising early spring, endless rain and consistently cool weather had a profound impact on many of the spring-flying bees in the county. For example, the mining bee Andrena haemorrhoa is a relatively common and widespread species and is a real harbinger of spring, with its peak of activity during April and May. However, this year few were seen early on, but females were still being seen in late June, exploiting flowers that would not normally be available to it. The cool weather undoubtedly delayed the emergence of this species, and this is likely to be true for many species active in the spring months. One of the most noticeable aspects of the late summer was the lack of social wasps that normally make such a nuisance of themselves during picnics and barbecues. I have hardly seen any all summer. In the spring, newly emerged queens need to found a new nest, but before that they need to build up their strength following their winter fast. This, and the subsequent foraging for food for the first batch of workers, is highly weather dependent, with wet weather making for poor foraging conditions. It is being speculated that, in some parts of the country, bumblebee colonies may have largely missed out the worker caste and more or less gone straight into producing males and new queens, ready to mate and try again next year. Chantry Park Bioblitz It has already been reported in White Admiral that two important discoveries were made during this mass recording event organised by Ipswich Borough Council on 16 June. The mining bee Lasioglossum sexnotatum is a nationally threatened species, currently accorded the UK Red Data Book status RDB1 “Endangered”. However, south-east Suffolk, and Ipswich in particular, seems to be something of a national stronghold for the species. In recent years, it has been recorded from Orford village, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich Golf Club at Purdis Farm and Holywells Park in Ipswich, so it might not be a complete surprise that it turned up at Chantry Park. However, the status of this species remains fragile, with only one of the aforementioned sites with a population that can be easily refound year on year. At Chantry Park, this bee was taken from a horticultural Meadow Crane’sbill in one of the formal gardens close to the house. At Ipswich Golf Club it can be found foraging on some of the ornamental shrubs planted around the club house. These, and other, observations show, firstly, that the bee seems to have a fairly catholic taste when it comes to forage plants (often a limiting factor for rare species) and secondly that ornamental parks and gardens can have an important role to play in the conservation of invertebrates. The other significant find at Chantry Park was the mining bee Andrena fulvago, the first Suffolk record, since 1799. The national distribution of this species suggests that it is, for whatever reason, curiously lacking from East Anglia. However, as the Chantry Park re-discovery illustrates, this may just be down to lack of recording effort rather than a true phenomenon.

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 48 (2012)


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