*Ivy Bee at burrow, Photo credit: Jim Oldroyd<\/p>\n
THE Ivy Bee has been recorded in Clare for the first time after a colony was discovered in Sixmilebridge.<\/p>\n
The colony was discovered on September 26 by citizen scientist Jim Oldroyd while he was out walking with his children.<\/p>\n
The Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) was first recorded in Ireland in 2021 at the Raven Nature Reserve in Co Wexford.<\/p>\n
Until now, sightings had been concentrated in the south-east of the country, mainly in Wexford and Wicklow.<\/p>\n
Mr Oldroyd said he was drawn to the colony after hearing the noise of the bees digging burrows.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing that drew my attention was the noise the bees were making digging burrows. The earth was shooting out like a miniature volcano!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said he knew he was looking at something unusual when he saw the bee and was \u201cdelighted\u201d when its identity was confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe colony is very active, it\u2019s intriguing to watch the females clearing out the burrows in such an accessible place for people to see, right on the edge of a housing estate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bees don\u2019t seem to mind being close to humans, in fact they show no interest at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Oldroyd said he hoped residents in Sixmilebridge would get the chance to enjoy the colony.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just goes to show the importance of allowing space for wildlife to thrive and not being too tidy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, all nature needed was a bare slope and some flowering ivy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barry O\u2019Loughlin, Clare County Council Biodiversity Officer, described the discovery as \u201ca significant find\u201d and a new record of the solitary bee for Clare.<\/p>\n
He said the record highlighted the importance of communities supporting pollinator-friendly initiatives and submitting wildlife records to the National Biodiversity Data Centre.<\/p>\n
According to Owen Beckett of the National Biodiversity Data Centre, the record represents a \u201csurprising expansion\u201d of the Ivy Bee\u2019s known range in Ireland.<\/p>\n
He said it suggested the species could be more widespread than previously thought, particularly in southern counties.<\/p>\n
The Ivy Bee nests in loose, light or sandy soil on south-facing banks and cliffs, with ivy providing a source of nectar and pollen.<\/p>\n
The species is most active during September and October when ivy is in flower.<\/p>\n
The Ivy Bee is a solitary species and is not considered a threat to Ireland\u2019s native pollinators.<\/p>\n
The National Biodiversity Data Centre is encouraging people to submit suspected sightings of the species to help track its distribution and changes in pollinator populations.<\/p>\n
The discovery comes as the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2026-2030 aims to address declines in pollinator populations by encouraging the creation of suitable habitats across the island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"*Ivy Bee at burrow, Photo credit: Jim Oldroyd THE Ivy Bee has been recorded in Clare for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[273525,273526,61,60,273527,273528,82,225982,263],"class_list":["post-644116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-barry-oloughlin","tag-ecodiversity","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ivy-bee","tag-jim-oldroyd","tag-science","tag-sixmilebridge","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}