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Submit a sighting of Vespa crabro (hornet)

Reporting your sightings of Vespa crabro

 

For the first time, BWARS has enabled online recording for this wonderful spring-emerging species of wasp. No dedicated recording effort purely for this species has been launched in Britain before and an accurate picture of its current distribution is lacking. Questions we are keen to address include:

  1. What is its current range and distribution?
  2. Is there any sign of range change since the BWARS atlas was published?
  3. What nesting sites are being used?
  4. When do the first workers appear?

If you have any records of this large, colourful and distinctive social wasp, please submit the full details via this online recording platform. There is a facility for uploading photographs to support records if you have them. Please include any information on numbers, sexes, flower visitation, nesting sites and behaviour in the "Comments" section.

How to identify Vespa crabro

Queen Hornet  Photo: Nigel Jones
Male Hornet  Photo: Steve Falk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are about to submit a sighting of a hornet, Vespa crabro. First, tell us who identified it and provide photos of the record if you have any. This information will help us confirm the record
Contact Details
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Identification
Please provide the spatial reference of the record. You can enter the reference directly in the Grid Ref box, or search for a place to zoom the map then click on the map to set it. The more the map is zoomed in, the more precise the grid square will be.
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Please tell us when you saw the record and provide any additional information.
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Submit a sighting of Andrena cineraria (ashy mining-bee)

Reporting your sightings of Andrena cineraria

For the first time, BWARS has enabled online recording for this characteristic and widespread spring-flying species of bee. No dedicated recording effort of this species has been launched in Britain or Ireland before and an accurate picture of its current distribution is lacking. Questions we are keen to address include:

  1. What is its current range and distribution - especially in Scotland and Ireland?
  2. Is there any sign of further range extension since the BWARS atlas was published?
  3. What nesting sites are being used?
  4. How densely are nests aggregated?
  5. Are there any observations of the special parasite, Nomada lathburiana
  6. Which flowers are being visited?

If you have any records of this very distinctive and widely distributed solitary bee, please submit the full details via this online recording platform. There is a facility for uploading photographs to support records if you have them. Please include any information on numbers, sexes, flower visitation, nesting sites and behaviour in the "Comments" section.

Photo of female: Louise Hislop
Photo of male: Tristan Bantock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are about to submit a sighting of an ashy mining-bee, Andrena cineraria. First, tell us who identified it and provide photos of the record if you have any. This information will help us confirm the record
Contact Details
*
Please provide the spatial reference of the record. You can enter the reference directly in the Grid Ref box, or search for a place to zoom the map then click on the map to set it. The more the map is zoomed in, the more precise the grid square will be.
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Please tell us when you saw the record and provide any additional information.
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Submit a sighting of Bombus sylvarum (Shrill Carder Bee)

Reporting your sightings of Bombus sylvarum

Bumblebee Conservation Trust are looking for as many records as possible for Bombus sylvarum (Shrill Carder Bee) and have asked BWARS to put up a a dedicated single species recording form for them on our website. So here it is.

Known for its distinctive high-pitched buzz, the Shrill carder bee is one of the smallest bumblebee species  and is identified by its pale grey yellow colouring, black band of hair between the wings and reddish orange tail. If you have any records of this bumblebee, please submit the full details via this online recording platform. Please include any information on numbers, sexes, flower visitation, nesting sites and behaviour in the "Comments" section.

To enable your record to be verified please include a photograph.

Bombus sylvarum female; a very worn specimen. Photo: Robin Williams
Bombus sylvarum male. Photo : Nick Owens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are about to submit a sighting of a Shrill Carder Bee, Bombus sylvarum. First, tell us who identified it and provide photos of the record if you have any. This information will help us confirm the record
Contact Details
*
Please provide the spatial reference of the record. You can enter the reference directly in the Grid Ref box, or search for a place to zoom the map then click on the map to set it. The more the map is zoomed in, the more precise the grid square will be.
*
Please tell us when you saw the record and provide any additional information.
*

Sussex Bees & Wasps Recording Group 2023 Programme

Submitted by Nigel Jones on

Sussex Bees & Wasps Recording Group 2023 will be meeting during 2023. Dates are:

22nd April Warnham Nature Reserve, Horsham

20th May Fore Wood and Guestling Wood, near Hastings (target species is Osmia pilicornis)

1st July Cradle Hill, near Alfriston

15th July Climping Dunes, near Littlehampton

2nd September Sompting, near Worthing

People should contact James Power by email beforehand if they would like to join any of these meetings: jamesmbuna@gmail.com

Updated key to Vespine social wasps available

Submitted by Nigel Jones on

Updated version December 2022. The Vespine key on  the BWARS website has been extensively revised for many of the male characters, most notably the males of V. rufa, V. germanica and V. vulgaris. The markings on these species are very variable and the only reliable way of separating them is by looking at the genitalia of dead specimens, in particular the shape of the central 'tongue' or adeagus.

There have been small alterations elsewhere in the text.

Download the key here

entoLIVE is hosting a number of free live webinars in 2023

Submitted by Mike Fox on

entoLIVE is hosting a number of free live webinars in 2023, including 6 particularly relevant to BWARS members

Details have been added to the Diary of Events page

For further webinars on a diverse range of invertebrate topics register here https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/entolive-webinars-74679

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