BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 23: 2010 77 THE BEE AND WASP ASSEMBLAGES (HYMENOPTERA: ACULEATA) OF SOME KEY HEATHLAND SITES IN THE WEST MIDLANDS REGION STEVEN J. FALK Warwickshire Museum, Market Place, Warwick CV34 4SA
[email protected] ABSTRACT A description of the modern bee and wasp assemblages of seven heathlands in the British West Midlands region at the end of the twentieth century is given with an indication of historic losses and recent gains. The characteristics of the various habitats that are typically present at such sites and the way that these are utilised by bees and wasps are discussed. INTRODUCTION Despite the ravages of agricultural improvement and the substantial growth of towns and cities within the British West Midlands Region (sensu modern Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and the unitary districts such as Birmingham and Wolverhampton that formed the former West Midlands County), patches of lowland heathland still remain. However, huge losses have been incurred (90% in Staffordshire over the past 200 years according to DEFRA, 2003) and with the exception of Cannock Chase the remaining sites are mostly small and isolated. Today, the Region supports approximately 3000 hectares of ‘heathland’ (DEFRA, loc. cit.) of which nearly 2000 hectares fall within modern Staffordshire, 500 hectares in the former West Midlands County, 108 hectares in modern Worcestershire, and the remainder in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Warwickshire. The precise definition of heathland used by the various sources varies from ericaceous dwarf-shrub communities in the strictest sense to the larger mosaics of heathers, scrub, bracken and grassland that often occur in association.