Wasps of Surrey by David Baldock explores the world of social and non-social wasps, revealing beautifully adapted predators, parasites and mimics of colour and form which will appeal to amateur and professional naturalists alike.
Surrey is probably the richest county in Britain for wasps supporting almost 90% of the British List. This abundance is mainly due to Surrey’s landscape as, with the exception of coastal habitats, the county retains extensive areas of those habitats most favoured by wasps such as Lowland heath and calcareous grassland. Wasps of Surrey includes an account of all 242 species recorded to date and illustrates 112 of them on 48 colour plates. In addition to information on status and distribution, there are numerous sections on the behaviour and biology of wasps, including: conservation and biodiversity; finding wasps and how to identify them including a fully illustrated key to the aculeate families.
Wasps of Surrey depicts a largely encouraging state of affairs for a good proportion of the county’s species. In Surrey, at least, wasps are doing better now than 100 years ago. This is probably due to a mixture of climatic warming and the successful retention of their main habitats. The designated conservation status that many of these habitats possess has clearly been of crucial importance in wasp conservation. Yet, on the whole, bees and wasps remain one of the most threatened groups of British insects. Wasps of Surrey is the pinnacle of a 25 year survey and provides an important snapshot of the status of the county’s species, information which will prove invaluable when measuring the success of future conservation efforts.
The author, David Baldock is a lifelong resident of Surrey and has an extensive knowledge of the natural history of the county. He writes regularly on bees and wasps in British Wildlife and is a council member of BWARS (Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Scheme). He is also a keen botanist and birdwatcher.
Wasps of Surrey is published by Surrey Wildlife Trust, the largest and most influential organisation in the county concerned with nature conservation, and a member of the national network of Wildlife Trusts. The book is the twelfth title in an ongoing series covering the fauna and flora of Surrey. Previous titles have included Butterflies (1995, now sold out), Dragonflies (1996), Larger Moths (1997), Hoverflies (1998), Grasshoppers & Crickets (1999), Ladybirds (2000), Amphibians & Reptiles (2001), Shieldbugs (2003), Ants (2005), Water Bugs and Water Beetles (2007) and Bees (2008). In 2005 the Trust also launched a series of County Checklists, the first of which covered Beetles.
