There are three similar species of ‘autumn Colletes’ active in Sussex at the moment: Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae), Heather Bee (Colletes succinctus) and Sea Aster (or Saltmarsh) Bee (Colletes halophilus). These species are characterised, among other things, by their late flight season (August to early November) and an orange hind margin to the first abdominal segment.
Welcome to the website of the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, one of the many local environmental record centres situated around the UK. We provide environmental information services encompassing biodiversity, geodiversity and other aspects of Sussex’s natural capital. We cover the two counties of East and West Sussex, including Brighton & Hove, in South East England. We are a small but dedicated team of environmental data managers, naturalists and IT specialists.
The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre is managed as a partnership project, hosted by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Our partners include local planning authorities, government agencies, conservation bodies and other organisations which need access to up-to-date biodiversity information, such as water companies.
Sussex has a vibrant and energetic biological recording community with many independent recording groups and societies. By strengthening relationships with these groups, and the wider network of naturalists, ecologists and recording schemes active in Sussex, the Record Centre facilitates sharing of ever-greater amounts of biodiversity data.
20 October: Sussex Amphibian and Reptile Group - The Woods Mill Event
There are three similar species of ‘autumn Colletes’ active in Sussex at the moment: Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae), Heather Bee (Colletes succinctus) and Sea Aster (or Saltmarsh) Bee (Colletes halophilus). These species are characterised, among other things, by their late flight season (August to early November) and an orange hind margin to the first abdominal segment.
5 October 2018
Probably not this actual one but possibly a friend or relative of record #7,000,000
Photo: ALAN PRICE, GATEHOUSE STUDIO/Sussex Wildlife Trust
Probably not this actual one but possibly a friend or relative of record #7,000,000
Photo: ALAN PRICE, GATEHOUSE STUDIO/Sussex Wildlife Trust
The time has come for the SxBRC to a bit more honking of its own horn. On 25 September at 10:01am the number of species observations in the SxBRC’s database reached the 7,000,000 mark. This was thanks in no small part to the Sussex Ornithological Society which had, a few days earlier, sent us with the annual “bird migration” and it was during the import process of these quarter million records that the 7,000,000 threshold was crossed. The actual record, the one that became the seven millionth, was of a Goldcrest that was seen in the Pannel Valley Nature Reserve in the far east of East Sussex at Icklesham on 6 January 2017. Of course, it is purely coincidence that this record should be a bird, it could quite easily have been any one of the 21,821 different species from the 1,712 families for which we have records in the database. For every square kilometre of Sussex we hold, on average, more than 1,840 records and it is the entire Sussex biological recording community that we have to thank for these records which allow us to report so comprehensively and thoroughly about the wildlife that occurs in any part of Sussex.
27 September 2018
The cover of Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles by George Else and Mike Edwards
Sample page from Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles
The cover of Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles by George Else and Mike Edwards
Sample page from Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles
The 2-volume Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles represents the culmination of over 40 years' study of the British bee fauna by authors George Else and Mike Edwards. They have drawn heavily on their experience in their home counties of Hampshire and Sussex, both counties with a large proportion of the British bee fauna, as well as undertaking targeted investigations throughout the region. They have also used a wide range of published and personal observations. The volumes have been printed to a high standard on good quality paper, with a clear and uncluttered layout developed in association with printers Henry Ling of Dorchester. A notable inclusion in the price is a DVD providing large-scale copies of all the key illustrations.
The Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles may be purchased from the Natural History Bookshop.
