A diary of back garden botany, urban ecology, rural rambles and field trips to the middle of nowhere...
Saturday, 22 September 2018
Ivy (Hedera helix) is a wildflower and wasps are pollinators, though both are somewhat undervalued. We probably wouldn't display Ivy in a vase for example but it is indeed a flowering plant. Similarly wasps are not held in the same esteem as bees but play a major role as pollinators.
I saw a dense wall of H. helix this week and it was swarming with wasps; probably the Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris).
Ivy provides the last major source of forage in the year for pollinators. In Dorset one year I noticed many Red Admirals feeding on it. On another rural ramble I recall a long country lane thick with Ivy on both sides and swarming with honey bees. The hum was so loud that at first I thought some piece of machinery was in operation nearby. It must have taken tens of thousands of bees to generate that sound.