One of the biggest attractions at Minsmere in late summer is one of our smaller residents, yet also one of our most fearsome predators - at least it is if you're a honeybee. It's also an impressive digger, easily rivaling more familiar diggers such as moles in its pound for pound capabilities.
So what is this creature, I hear you ask? It's a bee wolf, a type of large digger wasp that preys mainly on honeybees - though it will also take other bees.
Until about 20 years ago bee wolfs were extremely rare insects in the UK, being confined largely to the Isle of Wight. Recent years have seen a large expansion in both their population and range, and they can now be spotted as far north as Yorkshire. The soft sandy soils on the Suffolk Sandlings make a perfect home for this impressive wasp, and at Minsmere they can easily be seen burrowing along the edge of the path through the North Bushes, just before yo reach the North Wall.
Typical beewolf habitat, complete with a beewolf carrying a honeybee
I spent about 15 minutes watching and trying to photograph these fascinating wasps at lunchtime yesterday (note to self. I need a better camera!). Once you get your eye in they are easy to spot. The female beewolf flies in, often at speed within about a metre of the surface, with a paralyzed honeybee slung beneath her. Her prey is almost as big as her, yet barely seems to affect either her speed or maneuverability.
A beewolf with honeybee (both photos by Ian Barthorpe)
She is on a mission. She quickly re-locates her hole in the low bank at the side of the path, even though the entrance may have been sealed by her on departure last time - or by the passage of human feet. Without letting go of the bee, she re-excavated the entrance hole and disappears below ground in an instant. She may remain below ground for several minutes as the tunnels can, incredibly, be up to one metre deep! They will as many as 30 nest chambers, each containing a bee in which she lays her eggs. In time, the next generation will emerge with a ready meal.
Meanwhile, outside the hole other beewolfs patrol. These may be other females, intent on stealing a bee from a neighbour, or perhaps males ready to mate.
Like many bees and wasps, beewolfs are excellent navigators. They have been recorded flying many hundred metres from their burrows, and returning with the homing instinct of a pigeon. They must be pretty efficient predators too, though as with any top predator they will have no impact on the populations of their prey.
I could spend hours watching these insects, and they are very popular with visitors of all ages, so don't forget to look for them if you are visiting this month. Keep your eyes open too for Minsmere's tigers (tiger beetles on the heath), lions (antlion larval pits outside reception), dragons (various dragonflies and damselflies) and elephants (an elephant hawkmoth caterpillar was on the path near the pond earlier this week). And for wasp spiders in the dunes. There's many more impressive invertebrates to spot too.