Andrena hattorfiana – Suffolk

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Not the best photos but I saw this rare Andrena hattorfiana f when l was cycling the Icknield way.

Description and notes
A large, attractive mining bee which occurs in two colour forms, more noticeably in females than in males. In females the most frequent form has a largely black gaster, whereas in the other form, tergites 1-2 (occasionally 3) and sternite 2 are conspicuously marked with red (figured by Westrich (1989)). Males usually have black gasters, though in some, tergites 1-3 are posteriorly marked with red. Andrena hattorfiana, in common with A. marginata Fabricius, is strongly associated with scabious flowers and both bees may occur together in the same locality.

Status (in Britain only)
Listed in the Red Data Book as Vulnerable (RDB2) (Shirt, 1987), a status provisionally downgraded to Rare (pRDB3) by Falk (1991). This status may need to be reviewed.

Habitat
Open grassland, mainly on calcareous and sandy soils, both inland and coastal (e.g. fixed dunes). In addition, it occurs on broad roadside verges. In Devon, it has been found at 300 m on Dartmoor (Perkins, 1924).

Flight period
Univoltine; late June to mid August.

Pollen collected
The female mainly forages from the flowers of field scabious (Knautia arvensis – the pollen load being a characteristic salmon-pink colour) and occasionally small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria). Rarely, females have been observed collecting pollen from knapweed (Centaurea spp., G R Else, pers. obs.).

Nesting biology
Nest burrows are excavated singly or in small aggregations, both in open sites and hidden amongst low vegetation (Hamm, 1901; Perkins, 1919; Else & Roberts, 1994). The males often fly rapidly around scabious flowers without alighting, presumably in search of females.

Flowers visited
E C M Haes (pers. comm.) has recently studied the bee at two coastal sites in West Cornwall and observed it visiting the following flowers for nectar: rough chervil (Chaerophyllum tenulum), ground-elder (Aegopodium podagraria), hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) , common centaury (Centaurium erythraea), field scabious (Knautia arvensis), musk thistle (Carduus nutans), creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense), lesser hawkbit (Leontodon saxatilis), bristly oxtongue (Picris echioides) and common ragwort (Senecio jacobaea). Other species visited include white clover (Trifolium repens), wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria), greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa) and smooth hawk’s-beard (Crepis capillaris). Males have a marked preference for field scabious flowers.

Parasites
The rare Nomada armata Herrich-Schäffer is the special cleptoparasite of this species of Andrena (Hamm, 1901; Perkins, 1919; Westrich, 1989).

BWARS

Autumn is here RA1

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Autumn is now here and most hymenoptera are gone, my last walk I saw very few bees at all, Hornets and wasps were plentiful as their colonies are now at full strength. Loads of ladybirds around especially if you use a sweep net.

Pollinator corridors

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Bees and other pollinators are disappearing from our countryside because of a lack of wildflower-rich habitats. Three million hectares, 97%, of the UK’s wildflower-rich grasslands have been lost since the 1930s. Creating pollinator habitats along B-Lines will help wildlife move across our countryside, saving threatened species and making sure that there are plenty of pollinators out there to help us grow crops and pollinate wildflowers.

Catherine Jones from Buglife said “B-Lines provide an exciting opportunity for everyone to support our struggling insect pollinators. By working together to create a network of wildflower-rich habitats, we can support healthy populations of bees and other pollinators enabling them respond to threats such as climate change.”

You can help by creating your own pollinator garden and adding your pollinator project onto the master map to show how we’re all coming together to create national wildlife corridors and B-Lines. Read more at https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/

Book Recommendation

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If you are just starting your interest in bees and want an good book to teach you the basics then I would recommend this book. It has a general overview of all UK bees and will help you to learn how to tell one genus from another.

Entomology tales of woe II

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So after my last description of how it is in the field while out recording. Yesterday I treated myself went out to Kings forest, its not in my county but has a different selection of hymenoptera due to its habitat/soil type.

I jumped out my van, camera around my neck, net in hand and kit bag on my back. Within a few minutes I was seeing bees a couple that I could not ID so took a specimen put it in a tube and against my usual routine (which is empty in my left pocket full in my right leg pocket ) I put it back in my left pocket. A few meters down I saw another that could not be ID’d so took the specimen, now I have my net in one hand and these tubes have a tiny plastic lid which when it’s hot and your fingers are sweaty they are hard to get out so I use my teeth. So I did as usual but this time felt a sharp pain, it was the tube with the first bee in, it stung me on my bottom lip within a few minutes to started to swell and tingle. I thought I was going to end up looking like Bubba of Forrest Gump.. But like most solitary bee stings they are very weak and it soon went down and the tingling stopped…

It was so hot yesterday, it’s so easy to get so focused on looking for that new bee Hoplitis adunca along miles of Vipers Bugloss which is its main food source , that you soon become dehydrated. I didn’t find it but will always look for what’s not there.