Take part in our Ivy Bee Survey by visiting an Ivy bush that is in flower on a dry, clear day and photograph any Ivy Bees you see. You can then share your sightings via iNaturalist or by posting the details below:

Ivy Bee’s main food source are Ivy flowers and are seen from September to late November during the flowering period of Ivy. They are a solitary species, but nest in dense aggregations underground in sandy, light soils.

They were first recorded in Dorset in 2001 and in 2015 they were recorded in Birmingham and the Black Country for the first time. We need your help to discover how widespread this species is in 2026.

Ivy is a fantastic late flowering plant for pollinators. If you look closely you might be lucky to spot an Ivy Bee! Ivy Bees are common in continental Europe, but they have only fairly recently made the hop across the channel to the UK.

Join iNaturalist on August 4th at 5pm for a free webinar where you will learn how to approach and photograph insects effectively, capture the key features needed to identify plants, get clear shots of the underside of mushrooms, and quickly upload multiple photos to iNaturalist in one go.