A deeper passion for Ivy

I tend to think of Ivy's flowering peak as being September and early October when great heads of it swarm with the Ivy Solitary Bee plus Comma and Red Admiral butterflies.

By now, the loose clusters of fat-rich berries are starting to turn a dull purpley-black and are being plucked by the Wood Pigeons.

But Ivy often has some sprays of flowers that bloom deep into autumn, and yesterday, after an absolute deluge the night before, a few rays of sun poked through and illuminated one such patch in my garden.

It was thronging with life.

Ok, so many of them were flies, and as soon as we see red-eye, hairy black flies we tend to go 'eeurgghh!', but they're all part of life's rich tapestry. Many flies are notoriously difficult to identify, but these are most likely blowflies in the Calliphoridae family, and it is quite possible they are the delightfully named Calliphora vomitoria. Now there's a name to bring up at a party.

But Ivy is my subject today, not flies, although it was mainly other members of the fly family that were enjoying dabbing with the spongy mouthparts at the nectar that exudes from the strange little yellow-beret flowers on their rayed spikes.

So there were Marmalade Hoverflies (right):

and drone-fly hoverflies:

plus also many social wasps.

These late flowers will then go on to turn into even later berries that will ripen slowly as winter progresses, providing such a valuable late food source for many birds as natural food runs out.

Plus of course the dense cloaks of Ivy leaves will provide valuable winter cover for many garden birds as they try to survive the long winter nights.

Ivy is one of those plants that has inspire a rich symbolism and a wealth of folklore and myth. It was associated with the Greek god Dionysus, later Bacchus of Roman mythology. Best known for his debauchery and hedonism, you might have seen statues and paintings showing him draped in grape vines, but he was often portrayed with a crown of Ivy. Whereas the vines were of course the source of drunken merriment, the Ivy was thought to ensure that the intoxication was a positive experience. The Ivy didn't reduce his passion but rendered it  deeper and more reflective. There is many a modern reveller these days who could perhaps do with a bit of Ivy.

But the evergreen nature of Ivy also led to it becoming associated with eternal life. And so as my garden insects inbibe its juices and my garden birds gain all its manifold benefits, that's how I will see it - a source of enduring vitality.