Aculeate Hymenoptera from vane traps at Leighton Hall and Hyning Priory, Lancashire, in 2025

2026 April 13 by Chloe Aldridge

Vane trapping was carried out by the Tanyptera Project on two sites, Leighton Hall and Hyning Priory, in the Morecambe Bay area of North Lancashire (VC60) during spring and summer 2025, primarily targeting saproxylic insects. A number of aculeates were caught in these traps, and separated from the primary targets for identification. A number of UK aculeate wasps use veteran trees and dead wood for nesting, utilising holes created by wood-boring insects; others such as bumblebees Bombus sp. and some Andrena sp., forage on flowers of trees such as Hawthorn or Horse Chestnut flowers; trees may also be used by lekking males of certain species and as places to shelter.

The grounds of Leighton Hall are dominated by parkland with mature trees. The most common parkland tree is Ash, including many veterans (but not ancient) and dying trees affected by dieback. The fallen deadwood within the parkland is generally removed. Sycamore is also common with Yew, Oaks, Scots Pine and Beech less frequent. Most of the trees are woodland edge, rather than solitary. In contrast, the individual trees in parkland at Tatton or Combermere parks in Cheshire, often have more space. Other than the trees and occasional Hawthorn, the nectaring resource is limited. The grasslands are tightly grazed by sheep for the most part. The soils are thin and limestone is mostly overgrown but exposed in places. Most of the vane traps were situated in the area covered by the Warton Crag and Grisedale Wood Limestone Pavement Order. The parkland is adjacent to shaded ash woodlands, but these were not used for trapping.

Sheltered Ash with trap at Leighton Hall

Hyning Priory is a nearby Benedictine monastery with limited ornamental grounds but formerly part of a much larger 19^th century parkland estate. Vane traps were situated on sheep and cattle grazed pasture in a relatively small area of parkland surrounding the monastery grounds. The nectaring resource is similarly poor but on average the trees are older and more scattered – and mainly beech, horse chestnut and oak. Lying deadwood is apparently left on the ground for longer but still removed.

Traps were in place between 14/5/2025 and 19/10/2025, with 6 trapping periods in that time of between 2 and 4 weeks.

A high number of aculeate species were recorded, in comparison with other sites of comparable habitat such as Combermere Park in Cheshire and Knowsley Park in Lancashire, for which similar trapping was carried out by The Tanyptera Project in the past few years. A higher proportion of these species were bee rather than wasp species. At Leighton Hall, bee species formed 77% of the total species caught, in comparison to 60% at Combermere Park and 56% at Knowsley Park. Hyning Priory had the highest proportion of bee species – 20 of the 23 species trapped (87%). Conversely, there were a higher proportion of wasp species at Combermere and Knowsley, with only 7 species trapped at Leighton Hall. The trapping season and number of traps were similar at the previous sites.

The same species of bumblebee and Andrena mining bees were trapped on all sites, with a few exceptions with a more generally southerly distribution, such as Andrena nitida and Andrena wilkella. The bee species which were trapped only on Hyning Priory and Leighton Hall of the 4 sites were ground-nesting Lasioglossum fratellum, L.fulvicorne, L.calceatum, L.albipes, L.rufitarse, with L.fulvicorne the only one which is likely to be present due to it favouring sites with calcareous soils. Also recorded on only these sites were ground-nesting bees of other genera, a few species which prefer nesting in dead wood, including Megachile ligniseca, and a few common cleptoparasitic bees which target Andrena and Lasioglossum species.

The lower number of wasp species on the sites may have been influenced by the relative lack of dead wood and ancient trees in comparison with other previously surveyed sites. However, a number of the Crabronid wasps, such as Crossocerus distinguendus and Passoloecus corniger, from Combermere Park or Knowsley Park have a more southerly distribution, or are less frequently recorded in North Lancs.

Leighton Hall

Of the traps at Leighton Hall, five were located on Ash, two on Beech, one on Oak, two on Scot’s pine, one on Sycamore and one on Hawthorn.

39 aculeate species were recorded, 30 bees, 7 wasps and 2 ants. Of the wasps, four are Vespinae, two of which, Dolichovespula saxonica and Dolichovespula sylvestris, are frequently aerial nesters.

Two wasp species are dead-wood nesting Crabroninae, Crossocerus annulipes which has been previously recorded infrequently in Lancashire, although there are records in this area going back to 1995; and Ectemnius continuus which is one of the most frequently recorded of the genus in the county. A Pompilid wasp, Dipogon subintermedius, was also recorded. It is towards the northern extent of its range in the west of the UK, with a few previous records in Cumbria and Scotland. It was previously unrecorded in VC60, and is thought to prey exclusively on the spider Segestria senoculata. It was from the trap (1) on an Oak tree, which also intercepted a very large number, 21 species, across the season.

Archive image: *Dipogon subintermedius* – Elena Regina CC BY-SA 2.0

Trap 1, on an Oak Tree at Leighton Hall.

Most bees were recorded only a few times, with 75% recorded under 10 times. Most are common and widespread species. The species which appeared in the traps in the highest numbers were a few common Bombus sp., particularly Bombus terrestris, and Lasioglossum calceatum, a species known to be primitively eusocial.

Sphecodes ephippius, also recorded at Hyning Priory, is a nest parasite of Halictine species such as Lasioglossum calceatum, and is expanding its range north. There are only a few records further north in Cumbria and the Scottish borders. Megachile ligniseca is also one of the species which has been in Lancashire only in recent years (since 2010) and is moving north, with a few scattered records in West Lancs VC since 2022. This record is one of the northern-most in the UK.

Hyning Priory

At Hyning Priory, two traps were located on Beech, and one on Horse Chestnut. Twenty-three species were recorded, 20 bee species and 3 wasp species.

Most notable was a male Chelostoma florisomne, the Large Scissor Bee. It is strongly associated with Ranunculus sp., but is mainly a southern species, with few recent records north of Shropshire, and the recent and historical records north of here mainly on the east of the country. It is the only record in Lancashire apart from two on the Sefton Coast in 1999. It was caught in a trap (14) on a Beech tree, along with 21 other species, a high count in comparison with most other trees on which traps were sited.

Archive image: *Chelostoma florisomne* (male) – Nigel Jones CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Trap 14 on a fallen Beech tree at Hyning Priory

Crossocerus binotatus, a dead-wood nesting wasp, which was listed as Scarce (Nb) in 1991 by Falk, and whose status is under review, has been recorded very infrequently in Lancashire. It is becoming more common further north, with a few records of the species in the trapping area since 2018.