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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
2001 was a much more urbanised affair with regard to the recording efforts due to the imposed restrictions of the foot and mouth epidemic. However, there were still plenty of places to visit with notable finds to mention.
One of the most significant species recorded and a first for me was the Red Wasp Vespula rufa. I stumbled across a newly emerged queen on the canal bank at Frampton during late May on Hawthorn blossom and then on the August GIG meeting at Tewkesbury railway. I noted a single worker on bramble. Although this wasp has a long presence in the county it hasn’t been recorded very often in recent years with only 2 other records during the last decade the most recent in 1995 at Dowdswell wood by Keith Alexander.
Also at the Tewkesbury meeting was another social wasp Dolichvespula media. This species commonly known as the Median or Euro Wasp has shown a dramatic rate of expansion across the country from its first British sighting 21 years ago in east Sussex, and for the first time in Gloucestershire in 1989 at Dursley. Now common and widespread throughout the county and seen as far north as Cumbria, this species is obviously finding our climate to its liking. It has had a bad press in the past but despite its media label (no pun intended), of a very large, fast flying and aggressive wasp, I find its general behaviour not unlike any other of our indigenous social wasps. It may be a little larger and able to fly a little faster but a man-eating giant from Europe it is not!
The nationally rare Brown Tree Ant Lasius brunneus, turned up at no fewer than 7 of the 14 locations visited by GIG during the year. Despite its national status it is very common and widespread particularly along the Severn Vale in Gloucestershire. This apparent contentment with the vale region gives Gloucestershire the largest concentration of the species outside its known stronghold in the Home Counties.
L. brunneus is traditionally associated with parklands where there is a significant concentration of mature or semi mature trees, especially Oak. In the Severn Vale it can be found in most mature or semi-mature trees. Here both Ash and Oak are common hosts but it also shows a liking for fruit trees in Gloucestershire and is present in most of the old orchards of which there are many along the banks of the Severn, sometimes occurring in almost every tree therein. It lives in the heartwood so nest are generally inaccessible, but their presence is given away by the trail of workers running up and down cracks in the bark. If you are out in the vale region this summer take a close look at any sizeable tree and see if you can spot them, and don’t forget to tell me where you saw them! They look very similar to the very common patio and sugar bowl in your kitchen loving Black Garden Ant, Lasius niger, a close relative, but is a more obvious brown, also the thorax is somewhat lighter than the head and abdomen. Both can be found on trees but L. brunneus generally stays in the cracks of the bark following defined scent trails and trying to avoid being seen, whereas L. niger will continue aimlessly wandering over the bark unperturbed by your presence.
Bisley Road Cemetery in Stroud, the venue for the May GIG meeting was the most memorable location for me in 2001. This predominantly limestone grassland area in just a few hours on one day revealed no fewer than 28 species of aculeate, 15 of them social including the Hornet Vespa crabro and the nationally notable Brown Tree Ant L. Brunneus, not often recorded this high above the vale. With this initial richness it has great promise of being an excellent site for Aculeates both social and solitary in the county. I have no doubt many more species will be present so intend giving the area a more concentrated effort over the next 2 or 3 years.
Thank you for those who passed on records and voucher specimens during the year.
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