A video and some photos of Ivy Bees courtesy Alan Dawson.
Showing posts with label Ivy Bee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ivy Bee. Show all posts
Monday, 7 September 2020
Wednesday, 11 September 2019
A dull start
Dull conditions and a blustery time on the hill this morning and another good passage of Hirundines passing over with approx. 200 birds moving.
An alarm call from a passing gull caused me to look up, only to see a female Peregrine Falcon pass swiftly overhead and head off south east and putting up a flock of around 100 Gulls resting in a nearby field.
4 Spotted Flycatcher still present but have moved up the north side of the hill to a more sheltered location and again quite a few Chiffchaff around.
Mammals: Short-tailed Vole & Brown Hare.
Butterflies: a few Large White, Small White (1), Red Admiral (1), Speckled Wood (3).
Ivy Mining Bee: first found in the UK in Dorset in 2001 and are now spreading slowly north.
The last solitary bee of the year to appear and coincides with the flowering of Ivy, their food plant. They nest in dense colonies with the males appearing in August and the females around a month later.
Males clustering around a Female
Male (l) & Female (r)
Photos & video courtesy Alan Dawson
Wednesday, 19 September 2018
New Bees on the Block
The Ivy Bee was first recorded in the UK in 2001 and is now found in Southern England and Wales.
As their name suggests they feed and collect Ivy pollen and nectar on Ivy flowers.
The males emerge in late August and the females later in early September. The females are quite a bit larger than the males and the male’s only task in life is to mate!
The males will cluster around the female until one has mated then all fly off.
The Bees will be on the wing until mid-November if weather conditions are right.
They are solitary bees but in suitable conditions they will nest in large colonies in sandy or similar soil.
The males Bees do not have a sting and the females an ineffective one likened to a nettle sting.
The Bees were noticed by Alan Dawson today in Cholsey and the following photos were taken by Alan.
As their name suggests they feed and collect Ivy pollen and nectar on Ivy flowers.
The males emerge in late August and the females later in early September. The females are quite a bit larger than the males and the male’s only task in life is to mate!
The males will cluster around the female until one has mated then all fly off.
The Bees will be on the wing until mid-November if weather conditions are right.
They are solitary bees but in suitable conditions they will nest in large colonies in sandy or similar soil.
The males Bees do not have a sting and the females an ineffective one likened to a nettle sting.
The Bees were noticed by Alan Dawson today in Cholsey and the following photos were taken by Alan.
Under all the cluster of Bees is a female as can be seen in some photos!
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