Arthropedia - Insects on Ivy

September and October are prime Ivy flower time, with the heady blossom an absolute magnet for all sorts of insects at a time of year when few other wildflowers are in bloom.

Bees

On warm sunny days, a good sheltered patch of Ivy flowers will positively hum with activity. Honeybees (a.k.a. livestock…) particularly like Ivy pollen but if you look carefully you should also be able to find plenty of more interesting insects too. My particular favourite is the aptly-named Ivy Bee, Colletes hederae. These stripy bees have only been in Britain since 2001 and time their emergence to coincide with the Ivy flowers whose pollen the females use exclusively to supply their nest cells.

Male *Colletes hederae* looking for females to mate with.

Female *Colletes hederae* collecting pollen.

Wasps

Social wasps take full advantage of this last minute bounty as we move through the autumn, with males feasting on nectar and the workers often hunting for other insects to take back to their nest as food for developing larvae. Ivy flowers can be a great place to see Hornets (Vespa crabro) up close. These large, handsome wasps are truly magnificent. Usually though, I only see their mimic, the Hornet Hoverfly, Volucella zonaria. The presence of lots of wasps attracts the Conopid fly Leopoldius signatus which is a parasitoid of Vespula germanica and Vespula vulgaris, two of our commoner species of social wasp.

*Volucella zonaria* doing a good impression of a Hornet.

Hornet covered in a thorough dusting of pollen, showing what good pollinators they can be.

Solitary wasps like this *Ectemnius* sp. can also be encountered when searching Ivy.

Hoverflies

Plenty of hoverflies are to be found on Ivy too. Many are black and yellow wasp and bee mimics with perhaps the best look-a-likes being the various Eristalis species that can easily be mistaken for honeybees at first glance. Syrphus species can be frequent, as can the Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus. The so-called Hornet Hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, is also frequently found on Ivy. This is our largest species and, as its common name suggests, bears a good resemblance to the Hornet. Its larvae live in Hornet nests (and other social wasps species), living on detritus in the bottom of the nest.

The hoverfly *Eristalis pertinax* is a good honeybee mimic.

Other Flies

Plenty of different species of fly are to be seen on Ivy flowers. A careful search amongst the barely distinguishable brown and black jobs should reveal some colourful Blue and Green Bottles (Calliphora and Lucilia sp.) and you may be lucky enough to find the beautiful Phasia hemiptera. This spectacular fly is a parasite on shieldbug nymphs. Other attractive species include Mesembrina meridiana and Graphomya maculata with its spotty abdomen and smartly striped thorax.

Butterflies

Butterflies that hibernate through the winter are often to be found fuelling up at Ivy, especially Red Admirals and Commas, although when Ivy is first in flower you can sometimes find late lingering Speckled Woods and the odd White too. The Holly Blue is often to be seen around Ivy in the summer, long before it comes into flower, as it lays its eggs on the buds. The spring generation of this pretty little butterfly lays its eggs on Holly, hence the common name.

Red Admiral. The underside of the wing is arguably prettier than the upperside.

Comma. Underside showing the white mark on the hindwing that gives it its English name.

After Flowering

Once the flowers are over, it is still worth having a look at Ivy on a sunny day as plenty of invertebrates will take cover in it over the winter. A good thicket of Ivy will provide shelter from the winter weather for butterflies, hoverflies and ladybirds. In fact many of these creatures are ‘winter active’, emerging from shelter on sunny days to move about and sometimes feed. Ladybirds are a case in particular and even a small patch of sheltered Ivy can be a very rewarding place to look for them when the sun is shining, even in the middle of winter.

*Nephus quadrimaculatus*, an inconspicuous ladybird strongly associated with Ivy.

*Nephus quadrimaculatus*, tucked up amongst Ivy stems on a headstone in my local cemetery.

Hairy Shieldbug sheltering in an old flowerhead.

Other Wildlife

Because it attracts so many insects, spiders often make their webs in Ivy to cash in on the bonanza of prey. The rather attractive little spider Nigma walckenaeri spins its silken tent on evergreen leaves including Ivy. It is mainly a southern species but has spread into Norfolk and I have found it on Ivy in Norwich.

Once the flowers are over, there is the prospect of Ivy berries as winter food for birds. Wood Pigeons seem particularly partial to them but I have often found over-wintering Blackcaps feasting on Ivy berries. And, come spring, a good thick tangle of Ivy provides the perfect cover for Wrens, Robins and Blackbirds to nest in.

Garden Spider, *Araneus diadematus*, with a silk-wrapped Honeybee.

Female *Nigma walckenaeri* at the entrance to her distinctive web spun across the centre of an Ivy leaf.

With so many insects reliant on Ivy flowers as food at this time of year it is a pity that it seems to get such bad press, with many people seeing it as an evil menace that has to be removed. It is a crying shame that some people take it upon themselves to go around removing Ivy wholesale from trees, walls and even headstones in graveyards. This is happening in my local cemetery where a grave on which I was studying a population of inconspicuous ladybirds (Nephus quadrimaculatus) has been subject to such environmental vandalism, having had all its Ivy ripped off, depriving the beetles of their home and partially destroying the inscription on the headstone at the same time.

So if the sun is shining, take some time out to watch a patch of Ivy flowers, enjoy the thronging insects and see how many different species you can spot.