| Key to the list at the end of each section: | |
|---|---|
Black - Bio Blitz 2015 not photographed |
Blue - Bio Blitz 2015 photographed |
Red - photographed & identified by Volunteers |
Green - from NatureSpot |
All pictures are taken on the reserve. |
|
Hover over the following pictures to enlarge |
|
Bees, Wasps, Ants
 |
Bees are flying insects of the Hymenoptera, which also includes ants, wasps and sawflies. There are about 20,000 species of bees. Bees collect pollen from flowers. Bees can be found on all continents except Antarctica. |
 |
Common Carder Bee - Bombus pascuorum Sue & Roy 20140509 These bees reach a body length of 15–18 mm (queen), 9–15 mm (worker) and 12–14 mm (drone). The thorax is yellowish or reddish-brown. The first four abdominal segments have greyish hair, while the fifth and sixth tergite hairs are yellowish or reddish brown. However, the species is quite variable in colour. Queens appear between early April and mid-May, and workers appear at the end of April/early May to mid-October. Young queens and drones can be found from mid-August to late October. When queens search for suitable places to nest, they fly just above the vegetation, for example on forest edges, investigating cavities such as holes in the ground or niches in dead wood and grass. The nests can be constructed above or underground, preferably in old mouse nests, but also in bird nests, barns, and sheds. |
 |
Common Wasp - Vespula vulgaris John F Oct 2016 The common wasp usually forms large colonies below ground, but occasionally nests may be made in wall cavities, hollow trees and attics. Queens emerge from hibernation during the spring, and they search for a suitable location in which to start a new colony. She then begins to build the nest with chewed up wood pulp, which dries to make a papery substance. A few eggs are laid, which develop into non-reproductive workers. These workers eventually take over the care of the nest, and the queen's life is then devoted solely to egg laying. At the end of autumn a number of eggs develop into new queens and males, which leave the nest and mate. The new queens seek out suitable places in which to hibernate, and the males and the old colony (including the old queen) die. |
 |
Early Bumblebee - Bombus pratorum Sue & Roy 20140313 The queen is black with a yellow collar (the band around the front of the thorax), another yellow band on the first tergite (abdominal segment), and red colouration on the tail (terga 5 and 6). The male has a wider yellow collar, yellow colouration on both terga 1 and 2, and a red tail, also. The workers are similar to the queen, but often with less yellow colouration; usually the abdominal, yellow band is more or less missing. The head of the bumblebee is rounded, and the proboscis is short. The bumblebee is quite small; the queen has a body length of 15–17 mm, the worker 10–14 mm, and the male 11–13 mm. |
 |
Field Cuckoo Bumblebee - Bombus campestris John F June 2017 There are six cuckoo bumblebee species in the UK. There are a few features that most cuckoo bumblebees have that set them apart from ‘true’ bumblebees. They are the back legs that are covered in hair, with no pollen baskets – you will never see a cuckoo bumblebee with pollen lumps on its legs & the wings that appear dusky or dark. |
%20-%20Anthophora%20plumipes.jpg) |
Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Fem) - Anthophora plumipes
John F 10th April 2017 Females are very different to males, they are black all over, except for orange/red hairs on their hind legs but the males are orange. Once they have successfully mated, they can be seen collecting pollen which they gather on their hind legs and transport back to their nest cells. They lay an egg in each cell, provision it with enough pollen to feed the larvae and then seal it up to allow their young to develop until next spring when the cycle starts again. |
 |
Honey Bee - Apis mellifera
John F 11th May 2017 Honeybees are social bees that live in permanent colonies of perhaps 50,000. Feral colonies like to nest in hollow trees or similar sheltered situations. The hive structure consists of wax 'honeycombs'; each honeycomb is made of small cells, which are used to store food or to rear the brood. Bees feed on nectar and pollen taken from flowers. Stores of honey (regurgitated nectar) and pollen (gathered on the legs in special 'pollen baskets') see them through the winter and enable them to stay together as a colony. |
|
Hornet - Vespa crabro John F Feb 2017 I think this is a last years hornets nest, but it could be a wasps. Queen hornets begin the construction of hornet nests in order to house their eggs. The queen lays one egg within a cell and builds her way out, constructing a comb. Nests are built tier after tier. The eggs hatch into larvae. The larvae develop into sterile adult females. These female workers then assume the responsibilities of nest building and brood tending, while the queen’s sole duty is to lay the eggs from which future generations are born in late summer. The queen will begin to produce male hornets, whose only purpose is to mate with queens. These fertilized females seek hiding places for the winter. The size of a hornet nest grows in proportion to the size of the colony. Nests may grow to be as large as basketballs through subsequent generations of workers. However, nests are only used once; worker populations perish in winter, leaving only the fertilized females to begin new colonies in the coming warm seasons. |
 |
Ichneumon wasp - Amblyteles armatorius John F June 2017 One of the many medium to large (15mm) black-and-yellow banded species. The spine on the top of the thorax together with a precise colour pattern on the abdomen in both sexes distinguishes them from the many other very similar species. Watch out for other species with extra spots of yellow or white on the abdomen. |
%20-%20Diphyus%20quadripunctorius.JPG) |
Ichneumon Wasp (female) - Diphyus quadripunctorius John F Oct 2016 A large and distinctively marked black and yellow species with the femora (thighs) on the rear legs being orange in the female and yellow in the male. The species is sexually dimorphic with females having a pale section on their antennae and very different abdominal pattern to the males. |
 |
Red-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius John F July 2017 The Red-tailed Bumblebee is a very common bumblebee, emerging early in the spring and feeding on flowers right through to the autumn. It can be found in gardens, farmland, woodland edges, hedgerows and heathland: anywhere there are flowers to feed on. As with other social insects, the queen emerges from hibernation in spring and starts the colony by laying a few eggs that hatch as workers; these workers tend the young and nest. Males emerge later and mate with new females who are prospective queens. Both the males and old queen die in the autumn, but the new queens hibernate. The female Red-tailed Bumblebee is a very large, black bumblebee with a big red 'tail'. Males are smaller and, as well as the red tail, have two yellow bands on the thorax and one at the base of the abdomen. |
 |
Tawny Mining Bee - Andrena fulva John F April 2017 The Tawny Mining Bee is a common, spring-flying, solitary bee, which nests underground, building a little volcano-like mound of soil around the mouth of its burrow. The Tawny Mining Bee is on the wing from April to June, which coincides with the flowering of fruit trees like cherry, pear and apple. The female collects pollen and nectar for the larvae which develop underground, each in a single 'cell' of the nest, and hibernate as pupa over winter. It is a gingery bee that can often be seen visiting its nest in the lawn during the springtime. Females are larger than males, and covered in a much denser layer of orange hairs. The males have a distinguishing white tuft of hairs on the face. There are several other species of mining bee, which are difficult to tell apart. |
 |
Tree Bumblebee - Bombus hypnorum John Ellis Recorded in the 2015 BioBlitz and if you look carefully you will see a white tail under the wing. Queens, workers and males all have a black head, brown-ginger thorax, black abdomen with a white tail. The proportion of white on the tail does vary significantly but is always present. This species was first found in the UK in 2001, but is now found throughout most of England and Wales. It prefers to nest above ground, often inhabiting bird boxes. |
 |
White-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lucorum John F Oct 2016 The White-tailed Bumblebee is a very common bumblebee which emerges early in the spring and can be seen feeding on flowers right through to the autumn. It can be found in gardens, farmland, woodland edges, hedgerows and heathland: anywhere there are flowers to feed on. As with other social insects, the queen emerges from hibernation in spring and starts the colony by laying a few eggs that hatch as workers; these workers tend the young and nest. Males emerge later and mate with new females who are prospective queens. Both the males and old queen die in the autumn, but the new queens hibernate. |
Bio Blitz ------ 26-06-2015 blue & black |
Small Black Ant - Lasius niger Tawny Mining Bee - Andrena fulva Tree Bumblebee - Bombus hypnorum Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee - Bombus vestalis White-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lucorum Yellow Meadow Ant - Lasius flavus |