If you are up and about early or enjoy a stroll around the park before dark, you will probably have seen our local foxes on patrol. But when every sensible person is tucked up in bed, the Patch badgers make their nightly rounds. And if they get bored with the park itself, they make more than an occasional visit to the neigbouring gardens.
A consolation for a bout of insomnia for one Bonchurch Road resident was spotting this nocturnal visitor sniffing for worms in the early hours. “The garden was full of holes in the morning” he said ruefully “but I suppose it is good for the soil in the long run!”
And the bees!
Towards the top of the Patch you may have spotted low flying bees swarming along the ground over a network of little tunnels. We believe these are Ivy bees. (Colletes hederae).
Acording to the Sussex Wildlife Trust “at the beginning of September, male Ivy bees emerge about two weeks before females, when scores of males can be seen flying low over the ground with an audible hum, much like honeybees around a hive. They are waiting for the first females to emerge. When one does, all the male bees try to mate with her, and this is when you might see a mating ball.
Male bees don’t have a sting and are completely harmless. The females have a sting but have rarely been known to use it on people. You’d need to be behaving in a seriously annoying way to provoke one.“
Ivy bees are only out for a few weeks at this time of year so enjoy them while you can.