Saturday 23 October 2021

Still life on the Ivy Flowers

Deep into October, and there are still little pockets of flowers offering food to our pollinators. 

I speak mainly of  course of ivy flowers, aside from a few lavender and verbena that are still hanging on, these are the most numerous source of pollen around at the moment. 

All the bushes seem to come into flower at different times; while some have now gone over and all but transformed into berries, others have now come into bloom. 

With the colder weather, honeybees and bumblebees are no longer active, but there are still flies and wasps about, and of course ivy mining bees too, who will keep going into November providing it doesn't get too cold.

It seems strange to me that until a few weeks ago I'd never seen one in my life, and now I'm coming across lots of them when I'm out and about.

They are certainly a beautiful species, up there with female tawny mining bees in my view, with the orange-yellow stripes on the abdomen being a colour that seems so vivid without there seemingly being any reason for it being out of the ordinary. 

Goes to show, always keep an eye on the ivy!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 23.10.21




5 comments:

  1. Agree about the ivy bees Si - I pass plenty of Ivy on my daily walk I shall inspect it closely and report back.

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  2. Since you tipped us off about the Ivy Mining Bees, I've noticed a few myself too which I would otherwise have passed by.. Many thanks, Prof Thompson!

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  3. I guess to the uninitiated (or nature blind) among us might have simply called them 'bees' but now that you have opened my eyes i will look out for these ivy mining bees.

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  4. You could almost stroke them they are so clear in the photo.

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  5. Thank you, i'm so glad this post has inspired a few of you to take a look!

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