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HYMENOPTERA REPORT 2022
HYMENOPTERA REPORT 2022 ADRIAN KNOWLES
Stefan Verheyen
The exceptionally hot weather endured during the summer of 2022 has been a mixed blessing. What started out as a run of pleasantly warm, dry weather (highly conducive to aculeate activity) gradually became difficult conditions, as floral resources dried up and prey for predators became scarce. Too much of a good thing is bad for you… One of the highlights of the year, back in March when there was no hint of what was to come, was the discovery of a species new to the county. This was the megachilid bee Osmia cornuta, which was only recorded in Britain for the first time in 2017. Even now, it is known from only a handful of sites in southern England. David Basham had suspicions that he had spotted females foraging at the flowers of a nearneighbour’s cherry tree (Ipswich) in 2021 but was unable to confirm it. However, in March 2022 he managed to secure a specimen, with the consent of the intrigued and interested neighbour! Although confirmation was not really needed, I went along to check out the small cherry tree and soon saw females myself. I then managed to see another female high in the canopy of a cherry tree in the nearby Alexandra Park. Although this is a very small sample, this prompts the suggestion that flowering cherries may well be fruitful places to search in the future (pun intended!).
Osmia cornuta female
male
The following is a summary of other interesting discoveries made during the year. Recorders are David Basham (DB), Alan Cornish (AC), Hawk Honey (HH), Adrian Knowles (AK). Bees Andrenidae Andrena alfkenella is a nationally scarce bee and in Suffolk is largely known from the Brecks. However, on 14 July, HH caught a female at Sotterley Park in the north-east of the county. AC continues to record the mining bee Andrena florea from his garden in Reydon. For a while, this was the most northerly location for it in Britain, but Tim Strudwick has informed me that it has now reached Norwich in Norfolk. Further to this, a male was recorded on 3 June by HH at Lackford Lakes north of Bury St Edmunds, this being an Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 58 (2022)