An introduction to the ecology and identification of several commonly encountered genera of solitary bees. This residential course, led by Ian Cheeseborough, will include field visits to quality sites will include discussions of habitat preferences and nesting and foraging requirements. Evening presentations and the opportunity to study prepared specimens should give participants a good introduction to these fascinating insects.

Location:  Preston Montford

Level: Open for Everyone

RESIDENT (SOLE OCCUPANCY): £258 RESIDENT (SHARED… Read more

This bumblebee identification day course will be field based and led by Ian Cheeseborough. At the end of the course everyone should be able to confidently identify some of the commonly encountered species in the wider countryside and have an understanding of their ecology and conservation.

Location: Preston Montford 
Level: Open for Everyone
NON-RESIDENT: £35

Bookings can be made by telephoning the Centre; (open 0930 – 1700) weekdays and most weekends. Alternatively, bookings can be made via the FSC website: www.field-studies-council.org

This long weekend, intermediate course (led by Paul Lee) is designed for countryside professionals and amateur naturalists interested in learning more about these important and threatened insects. It is particularly suitable for anyone involved in biological recording schemes at a local or county level. Field excursions will enable you to become fully familiar with the key identification features of the more common species of bumblebee, as well as several species of parasitic cuckoo bumblebee. This will then help you recognise the rarer species. Workshop sessions will… Read more

A BENHS beginners day led by Mike Edwards (Midhurst). The day will start with an illustrated discussion of the natural history and morphology of these wasps and then move to the microscopes for identification; using specimens held at Dinton Pastures, but also anything brought along by participants. This is a chance to gain an understanding of these cosmopolitan wasps and to start getting to grips with the main taxonomic features. RES have recently published (2014) - The Vespoid Wasps Vol. 6 Part 6 M.E. Archer; bringing a copy would be advantageous.

The workshop… Read more

Today (19th January 2016) I saw my first female Podalonia hirsuta basking on a sunny exposure. It's not unprecedented to see them in January - they have been recorded in every month of the year in Dorset - but this is my earliest record by four days.
This was a female making an early excursion from hibernation (males don't hibernate and won't appear until the summer) and she was taking full advantage of warm sunshine and a south-facing exposure. This was despite it having been the coldest night of the winter so far and there being frost all around and a thin layer of ice on the… Read more

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust announces an intermediate course to look at all the identification of all the  UK bumblebee species, and a detailed description of their ecology, life cycle and anatomy. Attendees will be assumed to be able to identify competently the "Big Seven"

The course costs £10 per head (includes tea and coffee) and run from 10.30 - 15.00

To book your place contact Dr. Nikki Gammans on nikki.gammans@bumblebeeconservation or telephone

RSPB Dungeness on 01797 320588

Booking essential to guarantee a place

All… Read more

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust announces a beginners course to introduce you to the world of bumblebees and their ecology, lifecycle and conservation.

The course costs £10 per head (includes tea and coffee) and run from 10.30 - 15.00

To book your place contact Dr. Nikki Gammans on nikki.gammans@bumblebeeconservation or telephone RSPB Dungeness on 01797 320588

Booking essential to guarantee a place

All proceeds to the short-haired bumblebee project

A superbly illustrated key to the Chrysididae of the Nordic and Baltic countries (in English) is available as a free download. It should provide a very useful aid to identifying wasps in the family Chrysididae. The key includes all the British mainland species apart from Chrysis rutiliventris* . It can be downloaded here

* C. vanlithi - treated as a subspecies of C. rutiliventris by some authors - is included in the key.