JOINT INITIATIVE: HYMETTUS — BWARS Information Sheet 1 Information Sheet September 2009 ∗ Safe with Children and Pets IVY BEE ( hederae) ∗ Important wild pollinator of Ivy BWARS Stuart Roberts & Nicolas Vereecken ∗ New coloniser of the UK ∗ Can you add to our knowledge? Featuring: History and Distribution • Background informa- bury area), Somerset tion The Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) was described and Surrey. • Distribution in UK as new to science in and the world On continental Europe, 1993 from specimens the species has under- • Habitat requirements found in southern gone a rapid expansion Europe. The first British of its range and is now • Conservation records were reported known from , from Worth Matravers , , , (Dorset) in September , , Swit- 2001. Subsequent zerland, , Lux- searches in 2001 embourg, The Nether- showed the bee to be plentiful over much of lands and . A female of Colletes hederae Purbeck and to be pre- There is a single flight foraging for pollen at Ivy sent in a single Devon period each year, and locality. peak activity matches the flowering period of In the years following its its key pollen forage discovery, it has been plant, IVY ( he- found all along the lix). The species is on UK distribution of south coast, from Corn- the wing from mid- C. hederae wall to Kent, and also in September until early Wiltshire (where it is common in the Salis- November.

Habitat and Conservation Mating cluster of Colletes hederae Colletes hederae nests in stands of Ivy. loose (often sandy) soil, and prefers sparsely In order to encourage vegetated south-facing this bee, south facing banks and cliffs. The banks on light soils bees often nest in huge, should be mown to keep dense aggregations in the vegetation short. Ivy suitable places and is essential to the success nests can easily number of the bee, and large into the thousands. stands should be allowed to flower in the vicinity The males emerge first of nests. and are followed by the females. Pollen foraging The bees are harmless Recorded world distribution C. hederae nests is almost always re- and completely safe with stricted to flowering children and pets

Hymettus Ltd is the premier source of advice BWARS, The Bees Wasps & Ants Recording For further information, on the conservation of bees, wasps and ants Society is the national recording scheme which pro- contact: within Great Britain and Ireland. vides the only source of fully validated data on the UK [email protected] bee, wasp & ant fauna. [email protected] http://hymettus.org.uk/ http://www.bwars.com/