Hi everyone. I’m doing the Hymenoptera apprenticeship (bees, wasps, ants, sawflies, parasitic wasps).
I thought I’d tell you all a bit about my summer field project over on Islay. I was researching into the ecology of the rare northern mining bee, Colletes floralis, finding out where they like to nest, what pollen they collect and learning a bit more about sand dune Hymenoptera in general.
My project involved lots of cycling in the rain to get to my study sites and hiking around in the sand dunes looking for bees!
I stayed for 5 weeks and managed to get a lot of data, which I’m working on now. It was such a fantastic experience, and I learnt a lot from it.
I was working on an RSPB reserve, and was kindly allowed to stay in their accommodation. I’ll be sending my finished report to them, which will have my recommendations for habitat management which I hope can be encorporated into their current strategies.
I’m at the Huntarian Museum in Glasgow now until the end of my apprenticeship, learning more about Hymenoptera and the management of museum collections.