Fig 2. Philanthus triangulum - recorded from Leyton Flats in 1837. Now known to be one of Britain's
rarest wasps, it is considered a Red Data Book species. (Illustration by A.J. Hopkins and published
with permission of the Registrar of the Royal Entomological Society).
Yardley Hill, a neutral grassland site, although little worked, has produced records of rarities such
as Crossocerus distinguendus and Andrena proxima, both Red Data Book species and the former is
one of the few British records outside Kent.
Table 1 lists aculeate Hymenoptera recorded from the Forest between the years 1976-1990. The
majority of records comes from the hot summers of 1989 and 1990. Most recording was undertaken
by myself; some records (mainly Pompiloidea) were provided from a pit-fall trapping survey by
Epping Forest Conservation Centre. The ant records are largely the work of Mr. Brian Williamson
and Mr. Peter Harvey. Mr. Michael Edwards determined the vast majority of the smaller aculeate
Hymenoptera. The first four columns of the table are those sites that have been studied most
intensively. The other sites have been relatively little worked. I have added records from the Connaught
Club (column 5 on the table) to the Epping Forest list, although strictly speaking it is outside the
jurisdiction of the conservators. It is. however, an old enclosure from the Forest, the Barn Hoppet.
The last column constitutes records from my garden in Forest Gate, outside the Forest sensu stricto.
In addition to these recent records, there are a number of species reported from the Epping Forest
area in the literature. Methoca ichneumonoides, the wingless female of this species which lays its eggs
on the larvae of the emerald green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) was reported from the Forest
by Hugh Main in August 1930 (EN XXIII p.63-67). Charles Nicholson (1928) in his paper on the
solitary bees and wasps of Essex recorded a number of species from the Epping Forest area for which
there are no recent records. In particular he recorded in the Hale End area. However, he is not specific
about the location and some records may or may not refer to the Forest. From Hale End, Nicholson
reported Gymnomerus laevipes, Ancistrocerus trifasciatus. Andrena labialis. Halictus rubicundus
(also from Woodford), Stelis phaeoptera, Chelostoma florisomne. Megachile centuncularis. M. ligneseca
and Nomada marshamella (also from Loughton and Woodford). Nicholson also mentions Andrena
cineraria (Loughton and Woodford). Andrena varians (Loughton). Nomada fabriciana (Chingford and
Woodford). One positive record for the Forest is Andrena Saundersella from High Beech. Other literature
records include the Hornet noted in the Forest in the 19th century (Buxton, 1905) and widely reported
from the Epping Forest area by D. W. Vere (1946) including a nest in Lords Bushes. It was last reported
in the Epping Forest area from Thrifts Hall Wood in Theydon Bois in about 1956. The related wasp
Dolichovespula norwegica was found at Woodford by William Cole in 1884 and from here again by F.
W. Elliott in 1888 (EN III p.87-88). Perhaps the most interesting record and also one of the oldest is that
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