Every year I look out for them. Every year I share photos of them, and 2021 is no exception. Here, then, are some of this year’s cohort of Ivy bees, at their burrows and feasting on Ivy flowers.
Busy buzzing
14 Thursday Oct 2021
Tag Archives: bees on Ivy flowers
263/366 The Ivy is buzzing
19 Saturday Sep 2020
One of the highlights for me at this time of year is finding Ivy bees feasting, as you might expect, on the newly opened flowers of Ivy. I blog about these little beauties every year so I won’t go in to their details again, just share my latest photos.
Busy little Ivy bees
08 Monday Oct 2018
Tags
bees on Ivy flowers, British bees, Colletes hederae, Ivy bee, Ivy bee mapping project, ivy flowers
Most of the Ivy bees (Colletes hederae) I spotted when I was out walking last week were living up to their reputation as busy little mini-beasties.
But then I spotted this one, sitting on a leaf, cleaning the pollen off its legs, wings and body. I asked politely if it would please smile for the camera … and it did … I think.
Ivy bees only arrived in Britain in 2001 but they’ve slowly expanded their range across southern England and in to south Wales. They’re very handsome little bees and completely harmless but can only be seen when the Ivy is flowering, from September to November. If you spot one, it would really help if you could report it so that the wonderful folk at BWARS (the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society) can track the bees’ spread around Britain.