Wendy Tobitt, from the Berks, Bucks & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, discovers that someone has taken a disliking to ivy on trees

Ivy, the woody evergreen plant that scrambles over fences and up trees, is the scourge of tidy gardeners and yet treasured by nature conservationists.

This very common plant is immensely valuable for wildlife, providing a nectar source for insects, shelter for butterflies and moths during the winter, a safe haven for birds to nest in, and berries for birds when other food is scarce.

But someone, perhaps misunderstanding the plant, is cutting ivy off trees in Dry Sandford Pit, one of the Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves at Cothill near Abingdon.

Martyn Lane, senior reserves manager for Oxfordshire, showed me where chunks of ivy have been sawn away from more than a dozen trees alongside one of the Wildlife Walks. All the trees where the ivy has been cut are healthy and there is no risk of them falling. “This started about a year ago, and we thought it was someone just messing about with a saw. But during this winter we’ve found many more cases of freshly cut ivy.

“It’s a very woody plant and some stems are quite thick and tough to saw through, so I’m amazed that people walking through the reserve haven’t seen what’s going on,” says Martyn.

Whoever is cutting the ivy at Dry Sandford Pit is not helping wildlife.

“Some people think that ivy is dangerous for trees, but it does no harm to healthy ones. In fact, ivy is a very important plant for pollinating insects because it flowers late in the season. In winter, ivy covers the ground keeping frost and snow off the leaf litter, making warmth for beetles and bugs, and a source of food for birds.”

At Dry Sandford Pit, ivy is especially important because it is the only food plant of the ivy bee, which has colonised the sandy hillocks and banks of the former quarry. This remarkable mining bee, slightly smaller than a honeybee, arrived in the autumn of 2011.

The ivy bee was described as new to science in 1993 when it was identified in southern Europe, and was first sighted in Britain in September 2001 when it was found on the Dorset coast. Since then colonies have been recorded along the south coast of Britain and spreading inland to Oxfordshire and the West Midlands.

In Dry Sandford Pit and nearby Hitchcopse Pit nature reserves the ivy bee is now well established in south-facing banks, where thousands burrow and nest in the loose, sandy soil.

The ivy bees are only active when the ivy plant is in flower, from late September through October. The bees feed only on its nectar and gather pollen from the globe-shaped flowers of ivy, travelling up to a kilometre to find them.

The ivy bee is not the only insect to feed off the ivy plant. Wasps, flies and butterflies all take nectar from the yellow flowers. Later in the autumn and throughout the winter the dark blue berries provide useful nutritional food sources for birds.

Oxford Mail:
Ivy bee feeding on ivy flower

Ivy scrambles up trees to provide a dense canopy, which makes an ideal hibernation spot for butterflies such as the peacock and red admiral to overwinter in. Small birds like to nest in ivy as it gives protection from predators such as jays and magpies. In summer the holly blue butterfly lays its eggs in ivy.

Martyn explains that ivy can be a problem on dead and diseased trees. “Ivy in dead trees such as elms can act as a sail, leading to trees or branches falling in high winds.

“We regularly assess trees near paths through our reserves to make sure they are not at risk of shedding branches or falling over. Any trees found to be hazardous are removed or cut back.”

Dry Sandford Pit is one of a group of nature reserves in the Cothill Fen area. Find out more about Cothill Fen, go on a circular walk, and take part in constructive conservation work to benefit wildlife. Visit bbowt.org.uk/reserves/dry-sandford-pit.