42
The Essex Naturalist
One worn female of Andrena denticulata taken in meadows at Langdon Hills is
only the second recent record of this bee in Essex. The location is not all that
far from Willow Park, Basildon the site where Roger Payne collected a female in
1996 (Harvey 1997). The Nationally Scarce (Na) bee Andrena fulvago is a very
rare bee in Essex which has previously only been found at three sites in South
Essex, both high quality sites with unimproved or old flower-rich grasslands
areas. Three new sites have now been discovered, at Southend Sewage Works
where it was first collected by Adrian Knowles on 4th June 1997, at Warren
Lane Pit East (Stanway Colchester) where it was collected by Adrian on the
12th June 1998, the first recent record for North Essex and at Barling where the
author collected one male on the 17th June 1998. Warren Lane Pit East was also
the site of the discovery of the first recent record in North Essex for the
Nationally Scarce (Nb) Andrena humilis when a number were found by the
author with Adrian Knowles on the 21st May 1998. This is another bee which is
very rare in Essex, only otherwise known from the two very high quality sites in
Thurrock, Broom Hill and the notorious and doomed Mill Wood Pit.
A large male of the Nationally Rare (RDB3) Andrena proxima collected by
the author at Alphamstone on the 25th May 1996 has recently been identified
by G. Else. This is only the fourth Essex record. Numerous females of the
Nationally Scarce (Na) Andrena tibialis were found at Southend Sewage Works
on the 22nd April 1998, nesting on a steep sandy bank. This must constitute an
important population of this scarce bee and it is just one of many interesting and
rare species now recorded from this site. Adrian Knowles has collected the same
species from Middlewick Ranges on the 2nd May and Star Lane Brick Pits on
the 22nd May 1998. Star Lane Brick Pits is yet another site in the East Thames
Corridor region that is turning out to contain an important invertebrate fauna.
Another rare bee in the county, Panurgus banksianus was collected by Adrian
Knowles at Middlewick Ranges on the 4th June 1998. The bee has only
previously been recorded at Wanstead Flats (Hanson, 1992) and Broom Hill
(West Tilbury). Published records suggest to the author that this species may be
associated with old unimproved grassland commons and heathlands, unlike its
much more widespread relative P. calcaratus which is often numerous in south
Essex foraging on yellow composites in ruderal habitats.
The bee formerly recorded as A. carbonaria, A. pilipes or A. riparia is now split
into two closely related species A. nigrospina and A. spectabilis (Baker, 1994).
The Nationally Scarce (Nb) Andrena spectabilis is widespread in the East
Thames Corridor, and the author's specimens have now been confirmed as this
species by G. Else at the Natural History Museum. Records of A. nigrospina, but
not A. spectabilis are contained in a report by Penny Anderson Associates from
several locations in the Chafford Hundred area. The author has previously found
A. spectabilis to be widespread and common in at these sites and the records of
A. nigrospina must be considered dubious. Unfortunately this same report
contains records of other species that would constitute important national data