PoMS guide to identifying Ivy Bees

Ivy flowers provide an important late-season source of nectar and pollen for many insects. One insect that you may encounter on Ivy blossom is the Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae), a solitary bee species that was first found near the south coast of England in 2001 and has subsequently spread to many areas of England and Wales, with reports of potential sightings from Scotland this year (as yet not fully confirmed).

Last chance for FIT Counts in 2021!

The 2021 FIT Count season finishes at the end of September, so there's still time to try a count on Ivy flowers, which produce an average of 24 insects per 10-minute count, and other flower targets (such as Ragwort and Knapweed) are still flowering in some places. On Ivy you're likely to see plenty of wasps and maybe some Ivy Bees as well - see the PoMS flower charts for mode details.

Bees' Needs Week 12-18 July

Solitary bee (Andrena florea) on White Bryony flower

This is an annual event organised by Defra in partnership with various organisations that have an interest in bees, including PoMS and many of our partners. It runs next week from Monday 12th to Sunday 18th July. There will be online activities and some in-person events as well.

The summary details are provided by Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and Buglife have set up some events for the week.

Map of FIT Counts

This map shows the location of each FIT Count that has been added during the current season. You can use the filter boxes to see counts from previous years, or to filter for particular types of FIT Count survey

4885 counts submitted so far this year by 908 participants

Report parameters

Select a year, or leave blank for all years

Select the survey to return data for


Enter results from your FIT Count

Please add the results from your FIT Count for any date between 1 April and 30 September. See all the counts for the current season on the FIT Counts map.

(If you are taking part in the 1 km square surveys and have FIT Count data to enter from your square please use the 1 km square FIT Count form)

This FIT Count is being submitted to the UK PoMS website. If you have a website account, please log in so that this Count appears in your "My records" list. If you are not already registered with UK PoMS we recommend to register so that you can view your previous Counts and use all the site’s facilities. If you have previously sent in FIT Counts via the iRecord website, or registered via the FIT Count app, we recommend that you register with the same email address as before, so that we can link up all your counts on this website.
Alternatively, you can continue without registering by providing your details below. We ask for these in case we need to contact you when checking the data. They will not be used for any other purpose.
Personal details

Please provide your first name

Please provide your surname

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Please provide your email. This will only be used to contact you if we require further information to verify the record.

If you are entering several counts you can use the green padlock symbols to 'lock' many of the boxes, so that you only need to enter your choice once - the setting will be remembered when you add your next count
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Please add the recorder's name, if it is not already shown, using the format "First name Surname"

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Select the date on which you did the count

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Provide the name of the site, ideally using one that is recognisable from an OS map. If the location is a private garden, the name of the town or village is sufficient, no need for a full address.

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Please provide the a grid reference for your FIT Count location. You can enter the reference directly (above), OR search for a place (below) then click on the map to set it.


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If you have chosen "Other habitat type" please give details below.

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Please select your target flower from the list, or use "Other" if your chosen flower is not in the list. If you know the exact species you used add the name in the box below.

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If you have used a target flower from the main list this will automatically fill in with the type of flower shown in the FIT Count flower guide. If you used a flower that is not on the list please add the flower type that you counted.

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Please use 24-hour clock time with a colon in the middle - for example, 2.45 pm should be entered as 14:45. Times should be given as British Summer Time.

Please enter the counts for each species group that visited your target flowers. (For groups that you did NOT see, just leave the box empty, there is no need to record a zero.)

You can add photos to show examples of the insect groups that you saw, but this is OPTIONAL. Where possible we would like to see an example of the insect groups that you have counted, so that we can correct for any counts that may have been misidentified, but you do not need to take insect photos for every count that you do. Please do NOT take photos during the 10-minute count period, as this could disturb the insects and affect the count result. Instead, you could take some photos of the main groups of insects after the actual count is complete.

Step 1
SpeciesAbundancePhotos
Bumblebees Add photos
Honeybees Add photos
Solitary bees Add photos
Wasps Add photos
Hoverflies Add photos
Other flies Add photos
Butterflies and moths Add photos
Beetles Add photos
Small insects (< 3mm) Add photos
Other insects Add photos
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Thanks for providing your count results. Don't forget to click "Submit" (below) to save your count!
If your count has been done as part of a project please select the project name, otherwise please leave blank. Note that if you do link to a project, your count results (including your name and the location of the count) will be made available to that project. See the list of available projects.
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