In Sussex, this species is confined to short chalk grassland and is always a sign of quality. In other counties it can also occur in limestone areas and very occasionally on sand dunes.
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.
In Sussex, this species is confined to short chalk grassland and is always a sign of quality. In other counties it can also occur in limestone areas and very occasionally on sand dunes.
13 August 2019
Dolichovespula norwegica used to be regularly found in the High Weald area, there are very few records after 2000
Vespula rufa was commonly found in many parts of Sussex, especially the heathy ones. Since 2000 it has become much scarcer
The early records for Dolichovespula saxonica in West Sussex were during the 1990s, soon after its first discovery in Surrey in 1989. Since then it has spread over much of Great Britain
Dolichovespula norwegica used to be regularly found in the High Weald area, there are very few records after 2000
Vespula rufa was commonly found in many parts of Sussex, especially the heathy ones. Since 2000 it has become much scarcer
The early records for Dolichovespula saxonica in West Sussex were during the 1990s, soon after its first discovery in Surrey in 1989. Since then it has spread over much of Great Britain
There are nine species of social wasps currently established in Great Britain. We often just look at a wasp and think ‘jasper’ - however the different species react differently to environmental conditions and the distribution of individual species appears to be changing over time, with two species becoming much scarcer in the south-east - or are they? Do the maps show real changes in distribution, or just the lack of recording?
Your records can make a real difference to our understanding of these ‘common’ wasps.
Please send records and photographs or specimens (having some sort of voucher - be it a dead wasp (can be killed in a freezer) or suitable photograph improves the confidence in the data enormously, so be prepared to provide ‘the evidence’) or any queries to:
Mike Edwards,
Lea-side,
Carron Lane,
MIDHURST GU29 9LB
or ammophila@macace.net
Mike Edwards, BWARS
To help with identification of these social wasps Mike Edwards has produced an extremely helpful illustrated key with detailed photographs of the critical features needed for accurate identification.
This key can be downloaded here.
There’s much more information on social wasps on page 53 of the 2018 edition of Adastra and on the BWARS website.
