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A RARE BEE IN NORTH ESSEX
In July this year I collected a specimen of a large handsome Andrena bee with darkened
wings from Field Scabious (Knautia) flowers. The bee later proved to be the nationally
rare (RDB3) Andrena hattorfiana, which has a close and possibly obligate association
with Knautia as a pollen source. A further visit in August showed the bee to occur in
some numbers along a short stretch of disused railway track where the Knautia also
occurs in some quantity. The disused track is adjacent to old (wartime?) sand and gravel
workings and arable land. Meadow Saxifrage also occurs on part of the old railway bank
and a nearby area of lichen heath so the land was probably formerly old grassland.
The English Nature publication "A review of the scarce and threatened bees, wasps and
ants of Great Britain" (1991) states that although recorded widely in southern England the
bee has declined substantially during this century and there are post-1970 records for only
about 15 sites. The decline is probably due to the intensification of agriculture in lowland
England and the effects of myxomatosis on rabbit populations.
This is the first record in Essex of Andrena hattorfiana for a long time but could it still
occur elsewhere in the county? The Field Scabious is not a common plant in Essex
nowadays but there might be similar refuges, perhaps other sheltered stretches of disused
railway track. I would be grateful to hear suggestions of possible suitable areas that might
still exist in the county.
Peter Harvey, 9 Kent Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6DE
FURTHER HORNET RECORDS FOR ESSEX
A Hornet nest was found this year during an Essex Spider Group meeting to Halstead on
the 10th October. The nest was by the side of the River Colne in an old Alder trunk about
8-10 feet above the ground. The nest was very active despite the rather cold damp
weather, with a constant stream of workers entering and leaving the nest.
This is the first nest that I have come across in Essex, but I have also found overwintering
queens under logs in woodland, one at Birchanger Wood, Bishops Stortford last year and
one at Hylands Park near Chelmsford in 1989. I have also seen individual workers this
year at Glemsford Pits, North Essex and in several places in the northwest of the county.
David Carr reports three individuals together on ivy at Great Myles, near Ongar on the
27th September this year and Colin Plant reports that the species is now quite common in
the Bishops Stortford area where he has taken it in moth traps at Hatfield Forest and its
satellite woods, Eastend Wood, Sawbridgeworth Marsh and just over the border in
Hertfordshire at Stocking Wood and several other places.
Peter Harvey