Bees and the Ivy Berries
Now that many nectar producing plants are going dormant, the English ivy seems to be the main attraction for the bees. As long as temperatures are warm enough, bees are constantly visiting the ivy berries.
The English ivy in our backyard forms a fence or wall between our neighbors' yard and ours.
It's a great sound barrier, too.
Yes, the ivy is invasive, and I just carefully prune it to keep it from growing out of control.
But the flowers and berries provide vital nectar and pollen for wildlife.
Sometimes I count as many as forty bees around the flowers, mostly honey bees at this time of year.
Above is a photo of a honey bee approaching an ivy flowerhead.
And here is a visitor that I started to notice just this year, a Copestylum mexicanum hoverfly.
These are very large hoverflies, about the size of carpenter bees.
A fascinating article about bees and ivy:
