1991). One female (conf. John Felton) was taken in July 1993 flying
around the wall of an old mill near Sible Hedingham (TL7833).
Five females of the scarce (Notable B) Nysson trimaculatus (Rossius)
(det. J. Felton) were taken in pitfall traps at Mucking Heath (TQ6580) in
1991. The wasp is a cleptoparasite of two other sphecid wasps
Gorytes quadrifasciatus and G. bicinctus (neither of which were
recorded). The habitat here of relict heathland and dry grassland
together with bramble and scrub (which would provide the host prey of
bugs in the families Cicadellidae and Cercopidae) appears to be a
suitable situation for these species.
I collected the nationally scarce (Notable A) Misumesa unicolor (Van der
Linden) (det. J. Felton) at East Tilbury in June 1993. The species has
about 10 known post-1970 sites and has been found associated with
vegetation such as Juncus and Phragmites around the wet flushes of
soft rock cliffs and landslips on the Isle of Wight and around freshwater
Phragmites beds in Kent. A nesting colony was found on an east-facing
sea wall in W. Sussex (Falk, 1991). At East Tilbury the wasp was
either taken at the edge of the silt lagoons or from a sandy section of
path and sea wall at the point where the lagoons end and the original
Saltmarsh survives. The dykes behind the sea wall contain Phragmites
beds.
I found the nationally rare (RDB3) Podalonia affinis (Kirby) in numbers at
Colne Point (TM0913, TM1012-1112) in 1991, where it occurred on
the sandy "dune" near the car park and on at least one of the old sand
ridges that cross the Saltmarsh. Nesting occurs in bare sandy
substrates, in warm sunny situations. The female locates and paralyses
larvae of tussock and soil dwelling noctuid moths such as Agrostis. The
wasp is very scarce with its modern strongholds in the Brecks, Suffolk
Sandlings and sandy coastal districts of East Anglia (Falk, 1991).
The Bee Wolf Philanthus triangulum (Fabricius) (RDB2) appears to have
undergone a dramatic increase in the last two-three years. Its regular
occurrence was restricted to the Isle of Wight, with other modem
records from Hampshire, N. Essex and Suffolk (Falk, 1991). In 1992 it
was found in new localities in Essex, Kent, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire
with possible sightings in Surrey and in 1993 it continued to be found in
new localities including four West Sussex sites and at least five new
localities in Surrey with others in Kent. Many records are for the first
time in well-known sites such as Horsell Sand Pit in Surrey and some
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