BBOWT’s Dry Sandford Pit nature reserve near Abingdon is a treasured haven for insects, writes volunteer Peter Creed.

Bejewelled dragonflies and damselflies zip around the fen and butterflies adorn the limestone grassland, but it’s the many species of bees and wasps that attract my attention.

Sixty odd years ago the quarry lorries moved out and, thanks to careful management of the reserve, hosts of mining bees moved into this nationally important wildlife site. Today the low cliffs are honeycombed with tiny nest holes of solitary mining bees, wasps and spiders. The early mining bee is evident in April, followed by the yellow-legged mining bee and the ashy mining bee. In August you’ll find the scabious mining bee with its pollen brushes pink from repeated visits to the flowers.

In the autumn of 2011 a new arrival — the ivy bee Colletes hederae — appeared on the scene at Dry Sandford Pit, and also nearby Hitchcopse Pit nature reserve. This remarkable mining bee, slightly smaller than a honeybee, was described as new to science in 1993 when it was identified in southern Europe. It was first sighted in Britain in September 2001 when it was found on the Dorset coast. Since then it’s been recorded along the south coast of Britain, spreading inland into Surrey, Wiltshire and the sandy soils west of Abingdon.

Here on the Cothill Fen reserves the ivy bee is now well established in south-facing banks, where thousands burrow and nest in the loose, sandy soil. They are seen late in the year, flying from late September through October, and sometimes into November in a warm autumn. The ivy bee has a furry, tawny-coloured head and upper body, with unusual black and orange bands on the lower body. They feed only on nectar and gather pollen from the globe-shaped flowers of common ivy, travelling up to a kilometre to find them. At Dry Sandford Pit there’s a crab apple tree smothered in ivy, conveniently located just a short flight from several ivy bee sites. These are usually on the warmer south facing slopes, where large groups of single burrows are visible as small holes in the sand with hundreds of buzzing bees flying low. These are the smaller males that emerge first and search for the burrow of a female. They land and pause at the entrance hole to detect the distinctive pheromones of the female, and if she isn’t ‘at home’ they’ll fly on. When a female does emerge the males completely surround her in a mating cluster, a writhing moving ball of orange and black.

I was enthralled by this behaviour, especially on the low sandy bank to the right of the gate as you enter the reserve. You can get up close to watch these bees as they are quite safe; the males have no sting and the females would only sting if you picked one up and gave it a squeeze. The ivy bee is so extraordinary that BBC Radio 4’s Living World is devoting a whole programme on Sunday, November 3 to these wonderful creatures. Presenter Chris Sperring had never seen ivy bees before, and with bee expert Richard Comont, he gives an enthusiastic welcome to this new arrival in the Oxfordshire landscape.

Who knows where the delightful ivy bee will appear next. It is spreading north, with sightings from Worcestershire and south Staffordshire, but there could be other places in Oxfordshire where it hasn’t been recorded yet. As bees generally are declining over Britain, the spread of ivy bees is to be encouraged. You may even find them in your garden if you have sandy soil and flowering ivy nearby.

BBOWT would like to know of any sightings of the ivy bee on any of its nature reserves.

Ivy bee sightings can be sent to the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society – www.bwars.com