Vespidae - Social wasps

All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.

Bees, Wasps, Ants

Bees, wasps and ants (plus sawflies) are all part of the insect order - Hymenoptera (means 'membrane wings'). A typical hymenopteran has 2 pairs of wings though they are coupled together with tiny hooks so appear as 1 pair. This is a very diverse group with many species which represents a major challenge to those wanting to identify them. We have produced separate resource pages for ants and sawflies, but this still leaves a huge range of species!

Whilst everyone is familiar with bumblebees, the 25 UK species represent just 10% of all the bee species. The remainder are 'solitary' bees that don't work together as a single colony to rear their young. There are some very good resources to bees and the 2015 Field Guide to Bees of Great Britain and Ireland is very helpful.

There is even greater diversity of wasps. As with the bees there are a few social wasps that everyone is familiar with, but these represent just a small fraction of all UK wasps. Solitary wasps such as ichneumons are not at present covered by a popular field guide but there are a number of useful resources to help with identification.

Many members of this group are difficult or impossible to identify from field images. Make sure that your images include the diagnostic features needed to make a definitive identification.

More information can be found on the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society's website (BWARS) - www.bwars.com/home

Identification help can be found by posting images on the BWARS Facebook group.

Click on the headings below to expand/contract the text.

Leicestershire and Rutland resources

LESOPS 20 - Garden Bees Update 1998-2001 - Maggie Frankum

LESOPS 21 - Foraging Behaviour of Bumblebees and Solitary Bees in a Suburban Garden - Maggie Frankum

The County Council collections at Barrow can be visited by appointment to view pinned specimens.

Other useful websites and publications

BWARS - Bee, Wasp, Ant Recording Scheme - excellent site with good photos, information and keys to download.

Bumblebees - An Introduction - an excellent and inexpensive resource from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust covering all UK species, providing both ID help and lots of information about each species.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust - Identification - excellent guide with downloadable photo guide to all UK bumble bees.

Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland - a small but handy guide with both photographs of each species and a useful comparative table of colours and patterns.

EakringBirds guide to social wasps - excellent illustrated guide.

Wasp identification photos, Flickr - excellent and high quality photos illustrating the key ID features referred to in the keys above.

Natural History Museum Guide to common British ichneumon wasps - a very useful guide to 20+ species that can be identified from a good photo.

Video: Identifying Common UK Garden Bees

If you know of other websites or books that you would recommend, do let us know: info@naturespot.co.uk

Vespidae - Social wasps

An excellent guide to identifying social wasps has been produced by Eakring Birds. Though titled the social wasps of Nottinghamshire, the species are the same as those found in Leicestershire and Rutland.