Fig 1. A cross-section of the Wanstead Flats aculeate site with some plants found here.
one that has existed for well over a thousand years. Much of the northern half of the Forest is wooded,
not particularly good for aculeates, but the huge numbers of old pollard trees, occasional grassy and
heathy plains, open rides, slades and small patches of bare sand and gravel make another useful group
of habitats for bees and wasps.
Perhaps the best aculeate site in the forest is to be found on Wanstead Flats (Plate 31), specifically
a small area in the corner of the Flats between Centre Road and Aldersbrook Road. Here a 'U' shaped
bank forms the western boundary of a football pitch. The bank slopes gently down to the pitch. It is
also of very variable constitution: in places the gravels are very coarse with very large flints with a
thin matrix of small sandy particles; elsewhere the gravels are relatively fine with a great deal of fine
reddish or yellowish sand in the matrix. The variability of substrate attracts different species. Some
species seem to occur in areas with coarser gravels while others seem to prefer the finer sands. A
cross-section of the site with a list of plants found is figured above (Fig. 1). Importantly there are
patches of bare ground amongst the tussocks of grass necessary for many aculeates.
The ditch to the right of the illustration is a recent feature, excavated in 1989 to help drain the football
pitch. It is filled with washed gravel. The spoil, heaped to one side and topped with the cut turves, by
chance, is a good additional nesting site for aculeates and had already been colonised by 1990. The
pitch itself, although heavily mown, has some unmown margins, with plants such as Bird's-foot Trefoil
and Dandelion and this makes it a potential feeding site for adult bees and wasps. To the north of the
site is a large patch of scrub - Hawthorn, Bramble and Gorse predominate, again a good foraging site.
Cattle can often be seen grazing this area, keeping the scrub at bay and the grass low. important for
the survival of the aculeate nesting sites. Other known sites in the Forest that have a good aculeate
fauna include Woodford Golf Course and Yardley Hill. The former site, again on gravelly soils, shares
a similar group of relict heathland plants with Wanstead and Leyton Flats, such as Dwarf Willow.
Needle Whin and Mat Grass. It is a very open site with small patches of trees and bushes and a variety
of grassland types from very closely mown fairways to coarse grassland being invaded by scrub,
drainage ditches across the site providing exposed sand and gravels for nest sites.
Interesting species from the Wanstead Flats site include Hedychridium coriaceum (a parasite of
Lindenius albilabris); Astata boops, a striking black and red burrowing wasp; Stigmus pendulus, a
small black wasp also found on Leyton Flats in 1989 (only the second time this species has been found
in Britain and the first females) and Diodontus insidiosus considered a Red Data Book species by the
N.C.C. and a species typical of light sandy heaths.
The Wanstead Flats site is of particular concern. Although it is part of Epping Forest it was only
after field work during the hot summers of 1989 and 1990 that its importance for aculeate Hymenoptera
was recognised and this site does not, at present, have the benefit of S.S.S.I. status. This site has been
threatened in the past - in April 1946 West Ham Council sought ministerial consent to acquire by
compulsory purchase order 163 acres of Wanstead Flats (including the site mentioned), on which they
proposed to build a housing estate. As a direct challenge to the 1878 Act, a petition of protest was
drawn up and fortunately in 1947 the proposal was rejected (Anon, 1953).
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