Ivy Blooms

As we walk down the path to the river, Bielwater we pass quite a lot of ivy growing on the external walls of the paddock, which is just behind our house. I have always been intrigued that this ivy has spherical blooms just a round, if not quite as intricate, as dandelion blooms . I have never previously associated blooms with ivy and checking it out on the internet it seems that these blooms only grows on English Ivy ( Hedera Helix ) after its second year of growth. When the flowers turn into blue black berries the birds will feed on them but discard the inner seed as it is slightly poisonous and this contributes to the spread of ivy. Also as the blooms flower in the autumn there is a lot less competition for flies and bees who are its main pollinators. As they catch my eye quite frequently I thought they were well worthy of a blip.