38 The Essex Naturalist
can survive. Details about the foraging and nesting behaviour for this unique
population are unknown.
Males and females of the Nationally Scarce (Notable A) Hylaeus cornutus were
taken on Wild Carrot flowers at Alphamstone on 8th August 1996, only the
second recent record for North Essex and it was also recorded at Barking Levels,
St. Clements Church tract and West Thurrock PFA lagoons in the East Thames
Corridor. Jerry Bowdrey collected a male Hylaeus pictipes from part of the Roman
Wall at Colchester on 26th June 1996. This is the first record in the county of
this Nationally Scarce (Notable A) species since Harwood (1884) recorded it as a
very local species occurring in his garden in the Colchester neighbourhood and
Nicholson (1928) noted the species from Billericay and the Colchester district.
The Nationally Scarce (Notable B) Hylaeus signatus, our largest yellow-faced bee,
is closely associated with Reseda flowers. There are new records made during July
and August 1996 for Barking Levels and St. Clements Church tract in South
Essex and Alphamstone in North Essex but the species seems to have had a poor
year this year with no reported sightings in the county during 1997.
Mining bees (Family Andrenidae)
One female of Andrena denticulata was taken by Roger Payne on 27th July 1996
from Willow Park, Basildon. This is the first recent record since Harwood
(1884) and Nicholson (1928) but records of the very local cleptoparasite
Nomada rufipes in two localities in the Thurrock suggest the species may occur
elsewhere in the region. The Rare (RDB3) mining bee Andrena florea, first
recorded for Essex in 1993 (Harvey, 1993a), was foraging at White Bryony
alongside the footpath near Gravelpit Farm Pits in late May and June 1996. The
available evidence still suggests that the species is confined in the county to the
East Thames Corridor with most populations in Thurrock.
A single female of the Nationally Scarce (Notable A) Andrena labiata was
taken at Alphamstone on 13th June 1996, the first recent record for North Essex
and several were also taken at Gravelpit Farm Pits in Thurrock and the edge of
Warren Pit near Woodham Walter foraging at Geranium and Stellaria flowers. In
June 1997 the bee was also fairly numerous near the river at Geshams Farm
between East and West Tilbury, probably foraging on Geranium.
The Nationally Scarce (Notable A) Andrena minutidoides has been recorded
as new to Essex from recently identified specimens first collected at Mill Wood
Pit in Thurrock in September 1993. The species has also been found at Dolphin
Pit, Purfleet by Colin Plant and myself with further singletons from West
Thurrock PFA lagoons and Ferry Fields Tilbury. A single male of the Nationally
Rare (RDB3) Andrena proxima was found during an Essex Spider Group meeting
to Farmbridge End, Good Easter on 1st June 1997, only the third Essex site. The
Nationally Scarce (Notable B) Andrena varians has been collected sparingly at a
number of new sites in 1996. Colin Plant took the species at Dolphin Pit in
Purfleet and at Ashmans Farm near Witham and I have taken it at Gravelpit