The UK Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) is a
subscription based
amateur recording society, operating under the aegis of the UK Biological
Records Centre (BRC). The Society is affiliated to the British Entomological
and Natural History Society.
The Society aims to promote the recording of aculeate Hymenoptera in
Great Britain and Ireland, and to foster links with similar societies and
interested individuals throughout Europe.
There are about 400 members (including museum and university
professionals and
overseas “Corresponding Members”) whose activities are directed by a small
committee which guides policy.
The Society exists to gather distribution and biological data on the
aculeate
hymenoptera (which includes many important pollinators), to provide advice
and
training to society members and the general public, and to promote
understanding
of aculeates.
The Society is prepared to consider making data available for specific
purposes upon application to the Society via the NBN. Data at 10km
resolution is freely available under the general rules and conditions of the
NBN.
The Society provides advice to the national Aculeate Conservation Group
(ACG)
- the advisor body to the 3 statutory countryside agencies in England,
Scotland and
Wales.
Data is handled by 2 senior members of the Society who, along with
other specialists, verify the data, and in conjunction with the National
Biodiversity Network team, aim to validate incoming records. The digitally
held dataset on British and Irish bees is approaching 400 000
records.
|
Cerceris
arenaria.
A common wasp in sandy areas
The Society publishes 2 newsletters a year, and (in association with
the Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology) a part of the Provisional Atlas of the Aculeate
Hymenoptera of Britain and Ireland every 2 years (in which some 60 species
are
mapped at the resolution of 10x10km)
If you would like to join BWARS, membership is only
£15 per annum, which, as a new member, entitles you to the Members Handbook.
More details are
here
Andrena fuscipes
Photo: Mike Edwards |
THE NEED FOR ORGANISED RECORDING OF ACULEATES
There is an urgent need for proper, well co-ordinated data on
distribution and habitats for many animals to support conservation
programmes, ecological research, and to promote effective conservation
strategies on a national basis ( the intended function of the National
Conservation Agencies). Such data is not only useful to monitor
individual populations or species, but can be used to great effect to
predict or diagnose the condition of areas of natural habitat. This is
possible because of the sensitivity of many plants and animals,
especially insects (because of their great diversity and sheer numbers),
to otherwise unobtrusive environmental changes, all too frequently
detrimental and man-made |
|
HISTORY OF BWARS
Biological Records Centre
(BRC), - the
foundation
To collate, sort and store data, the BRC was set up in 1964 at
Monk's Wood, and since 1991 has been jointly funded by the Natural
Environment Research Council (NERC)
and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).
Information is stored on computer for easy access and comprises data on
distribution (principally) and (among others) feeding habits, host
records, general behaviour and activity. BRC publishes much of the data
from recording schemes as distribution maps.
The Birth of BWARS
BRC helped to set up a number of recording schemes, including those
for bumblebees, wasps and ants which were later amalgamated into the
Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Scheme (BWARS). BWARS was started in 1978
with an initiative from the International Bee Research Association.
George Else (Natural
History Museum, London) ran the whole scheme virtually single-handed
until 1986. During this period over 150 members received the Bulletins
compiled by George, and a number of field meetings were arranged with
the help of Ian McLean and Alan Stubbs (Nature Conservancy Council; now
Natural England). The first committee emerged from a public meeting
held in May 1986.
|
