Ivy Mining Bees (Colletes hederae)

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Ivy Mining Bees (Colletes hederae)

Post by dunksargent »

Ivy Mining Bees in limestone cliff habitat, Swaddywell Nature Reserve near Peterborough UK, 24 September 2022

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Female on cliff face

Male-Ivy-Mining-Bee-8273.jpg
Male inspecting nest holes


Male-Ivy-Mining-Bee-Inspecting-Nest-8300.jpg
Male about to enter nest hole — maybe to find a mate. I have witnessed several males fighting at nest entrances but have not yet witnessed the 'balls of flying fighting males' phenomenon — when they fight over one recently 'hatched' female buried in the ball.


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Same male as in previous image entering nest hole.

Ivy-Mining-Bee-Emerging-from-nest-hole-24-Sept-2022_7816.jpg
Female emerging from nest hole


I discovered Swaddywell's 'Collete hederae' colony 3 years ago. Species is relatively new to the UK and its range is increasing. Solitary females can share nest tunnels / burrows where each individual constructs up to 18 brood cells - which are 'provisioned' with nectar and pollen for the developing larvae.

Images 1 to 4: Leica CL (APS-C) / Sigma 105/2.8 Macro 'L-mount' lens; Gitzo tripod / Linhof tripod head.
Image 5: Nikon 1 J5 / Nikkor 70-300mm VR (at 300mm = 810mm FF equivalent) / 72mm extension tubes / Zacuto optical finder / Gitzo tripod / Linhof tripod head

BW, dunk
And now for something completely different.

MarkSturtevant
Posts: 1942
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:52 pm
Location: Michigan, U.S.A.
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Re: Ivy Mining Bees (Colletes hederae)

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Nice pictures! I bet one could spend hours just watching them.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Re: Ivy Mining Bees (Colletes hederae)

Post by dunksargent »

Thank you Mark. Yes they are fascinating insects and should be active until end of October — the last bees of the year in UK.

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This specimen was photographed using a 1983 vintage Canon FD 200mm Macro lens (manual focus) adapted to a Leica CL APS-C digital compact. ISO 1600 f11 1/320

BW, dunk
And now for something completely different.

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