Ivy Mining Bee
The ivy was literally buzzing with life last month.
This is an Ivy Mining Bee (Colletes hederae) - a variety which has only been in Britain since 2001. This one apparently is a male which has less hairy hind legs than the females.
It’s seen between September and November, with its emergence coinciding with the flowering of the ivy.
Well, it’s certainly made itself at home and very welcome it is too.
Here were some other ivy visitors on the same weekend.
And a Sun Fly hoverfly. Ivy in a hedge really attracts the wildlife as you can see! Though the bee isn’t interested in pollinating anything other than the ivy.
Lovely photos. We have had an amazing number of bees in our garden this year. I'm hoping that we can attract even more next year by providing even more flowering plants and water for them of course.
ReplyDeleteThankyou! I was amazed by the amount of insects on the ivy this year and always welcome the bees
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