Ivy ripens its fruits in winter and serves as a food source for the starlings and other birds that are now migrating north. These fruits are VERY POISONOUS for humans and pets.
Only on ivy that is more than ten years old do flowers form in autumn, which then ripen into fruits in winter. These leaves have a characteristic shape when the plant has reached its fertile age, without indentations like the young plants.
In the Campo I leave the ivy on the walls for the insects and birds and only cut it back a little in summer.