The adults emerge late in the year (the males from late August and the females a little later in early September) and remain on the wing until early November. The principal pollen forage plant is ivy (
Hedera helix) (hence the specific epithet
hederae), but both sexes will also nectar at ivy flowers too. When ivy is scarce, other species of plants are also visited. The females supply the larval brood cells almost exclusively with nectar and pollen of ivy flowers. When ivy flowering is delayed, females may also collect pollen at various members of the Daisy family (
Asteraceae). These are solitary bees that do not live in colonies and do not overwinter as adults. They nest in clay-sandy soils, especially in
loess hills and soft-rock cliffs. Like many other solitary bees, they can often be found nesting in dense aggregations, sometimes numbering many tens of thousands of nests. In parts of the west European range of the species,
Colletes hederae are frequently parasitized by the larvae of the meloid beetle
Stenoria analis, which feed on the supply of nectar and pollen prepared by females bees in their nests. ==Gallery==