UK Wasp Populations Also In Apparent Rapid Decline, But Systematic Monitoring Lacking

The UK is not doing enough to track wasp populations as numbers appear to plummet, a leading expert has warned. While there were national monitoring schemes for some invertebrates, including bees and butterflies, there was no such programme in place for wasps, said Dr Gavin Broad, principal curator of wasps at the Natural History Museum.

This year, wasps appear to have faced a sharp decline, with the colder and wetter weather believed to have dampened their numbers, as reported by gardeners, experts and pest controllers. Board said this gap in knowledge meant there was not enough information about the long-term population trends of wasps.

He said: “We don’t really know much about the populations of wasps. The common wasp [Vespula vulgaris] and German wasp [Vespula germanica] seem to have cycles of abundance and decline, probably a result of the weather, but there is no systematic recording of numbers.”

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology had a pollinator monitoring scheme, he said, but this mostly focused on bees and hoverflies. “This is a shame as – anecdotally – it seems that some species are declining in the long term, whereas other species, especially the hornet (Vespa crabro) are clearly doing rather well. Wasps sit at the top of the insect food chain so the health of their populations could tell us a lot about the general state of insect populations.”

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/07/uk-failing-to-monitor-apparently-falling-wasp-populations-expert-warns