Hi Tom,
I had a post from someone who might be a Sussex Ornithological Society member and he let me know that bee-eaters have been in Sussex. I don’t think that a record can be made for Ecclesbourne Meadow because no one has seen or heard them. However, bumble bees all all of which I have been found near the fence surrounding the meadow. All with hollowed out abdomens taken out via the sting could be indicative. I found another one alive today with a hollowed out abdomen. I share below the information that I received. from Wikipedia: Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinger> stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect thereby extracting most of the venom. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee-eater#cite_note-EoB-1> [1] Notably, the birds only catch prey that are on the wing and ignore flying insects once they land. http://www.sos.org.uk/index.php?option=com_jobline4 <http://www.sos.org.uk/index.php?option=com_jobline4&Itemid=10> &Itemid=10 :- 19 Apr 2015 Five Bee-eaters at Abbott's Wood Five BEE-EATERS at Abbott's Wood (near Hailsham) just off A27. Showed well in area where tree felling had taken place at approx 3.00 pm for 15 minutes before flying off. Incredible! (Presumably the same five birds that were at Dover until 10.30 today when they flew off high SE - Ed). Posted on 19 Apr 2015 by Kaella Lawson & Mark Lawrence Thank you. Best regards, Richard. From: Adastra [mailto:adastra-boun...@lists.sxbrc.org.uk] On Behalf Of Thomas Wood Sent: 20 April 2015 17:41 To: Adastra discussion group Subject: Re: [Adastra] Bee Eater? Hi Richard, Great tits are well known for emptying out queen bumblebees. Each bird tends to have it's own way of doing things, so sometimes they have the thorax cleaned out and sometimes the abdomen, the finished bee looking like a soft boiled egg. Tom On 20 April 2015 at 09:21, Richard Price <richardpr...@uwclub.net> wrote: After hearing about lots of dead bumble bees at Eccelesbourne meadow in Hastings Country Park I took a walk and yes there are dead bees all over the meadow. I examined a few and they nearly all have emptied out abdomens. Abdomens with no contents. I thought this was likely to be some creature going around finding dead bees and eating the abdomen contents. However, I came across one alive that had had the contents of the abdomen removed along with the sting. It looks as if something is eating bumble bees by pulling out the abdomen contents via the sting, I wondered if this could be evidence of a bird called a bee eater or maybe a fly catcher. Does anyone know of a bird that would eat bumble bees via the sting?
