The Ivy Bee

Mike Edwards will talk about the Solitary Bees including the Ivy Bee, Colletes hederae

Mike Edwards

Mike has been studying British wild bees for over 40 years, often with George Else, co-author of the recent Ray Society publication Handbook of The Bees of the British Isles – which provides keys and species accounts for all the bees known to be resident in Britain at the time of publication – over 260 species in all. He is also co-author, with Martin Jenner, of the widely acclaimed Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland.
It was as a teacher that his interest in bees was aroused when pupils asked about pinned specimens, leading to field expeditions and introductions to George Else and Orthopterist (grasshoppers, crickets & locusts) Chris Haes.  This all developed into a strong association with BWARS, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society.
Currently Mike, and one of his sons, continues to support insect conservation through his company which, among other things, includes the ecological management of golf course roughs.

The talk will introduce the main groupings within the bees-

Melitta tricincta

solitary, social and cuckoos – their life history, some help with recognising these and discuss modern ideas about their evolutionary history – very different to that when he first started, thanks largely to the development of genetic investigations.

In the first paragraph the number of British species was mentioned as more than 260. Although much has been made of insect declines, often referring to bees in particular, there have actually been many more species becoming established in Britain over the past 30 years than have been lost over the past 150.

Nomada flavopicta

Two of the best known of these recent introductions are the bumble bee Bombus hypnorum and the mining bee Colletes hederae. Using these two species (in the main) he will discuss possible reasons for these significant range expansions – and where losses may occur.