At last, an introductory text to British bees... 

In 1998 BWARS members started work on a project to write and publish an introduction to the bees of Britain. The project was considered particularly worthwhile as there had been no publication providing an adequate overview of this large and varied group of aculeates since Edward Saunders' 1896 classic work. The lack of a good modern introductory text covering all British bee genera was a huge gap in the literature on British aculeates.

Since the decision… Read more

Speed labelling

All specimens should carry full data on the labels. This essential task can be time-consuming, and here Sam Droege gives some tips on how to speed this process up without losing accuracy.

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Pinning specimens

This critical task has to be performed properly if specimens are going to be identified. Sam Droege demonstrates the best in good practice.

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Drying Specimens

Wet specimens that have been washed need to be dried properly before pinning. Sam Droege shows how its done.

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Washing material caught in water or alcohol

Sam Droege demonstrates good practice in preparing specimens

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Surveying bees with bowl [pan] traps

2 videos by BWARS Corresponding member Sam Droege (US) demonstrating how to carry out efficient bowl trapping surveys

Terry Griswold's Pan trap monitoring protocols

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How to use a Hand net

BWARS Corresponding member Sam Droege (US) demonstrating how best to use a handnet

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Colletes hederae - Summary of 2011 monitoring project

Colletes hederae enjoyed another year of colonisation, consolidation and advance in 2011. The northerly limits of its range were extended northward on two fronts. The first crop of records occurred in the unseasonally hot weather at the end of September, when numerous records started coming in from a suite of sandy sites to the south of Oxford, with particularly large nesting aggregations noted from Dry Sandford Pit. We also received records from Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) which represents… Read more

Colletes hederae - Summary of 2010 monitoring project

Steady expansion and further consolidation would sum up the status of Colletes hederae after another good season for the bee.

There have been many records from areas colonised in prevous years, but 2010 has seen a considerable number of new records from inland sites in central Hampshire, new records from the Reading area of Berkshire and a significant number of observations from the southernmost parts of Surrey. What is clear now is that what were (a few years ago) distinct… Read more

Colletes hederae - Summary of 2009 monitoring project

2009 has been another excellent year both for Colletes hederae in UK and our monitoring effort. BWARS has gathered data from no less than 61 10x10km grid cells this year, of which no less than 33 represent entirely new locations. A glance at the map at the foot of this webpage will show that the most exciting areas for new sightings have been in west Kent, the north Kentish coast and south Essex (the first records from north of the Thames). I have also received a good number of records from… Read more