ladybirds infestation!

[JohnL]

To be honest you're more likely to find me chasing a wasp or a mouse

I've found both this year.

tallulah71 Wrote:

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> Gosh - a ladybird. Imagine if one of the terrified

> lady(bird) killers were to come across a False

> Widow...

>

> However, I did notice loads on the pillars of the

> entrance to Nunhead Cemetery the other day.

> thought it might be the berries, but not seen

> anything like it! Not sure hoovering them up is

> the best plan though.

[fl0wer]

Saw a black ladybird with red spots outdoors on rose twigs, today,

so looked up online.

Nice BBC picture page to help sort them out here => http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14043356

[sue k]

we had about 12 or 14 clustered in a corner of our kitchen ceiling end of October/early November last year...one by one they came over a period of several weeks and huddled together. That was the long long winter...so guess it's a sign of what's to come! They stayed there for the duration..and then gradually disappeared when it started to warm up.....just left a few little dark spots which were easily cleaned away. Best house guests we've ever had, no bother at all! Don't hoover them !

[KestonKid]

Check out today's Guardian Notes and Queries.

[fl0wer]

If anyone would like to read up more here is a brilliant blog from Phil Gates

http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/.

[HopOne]

if you have them hibernating in your house then they may well be Harlequins. These are an invasive species which, as the link above confirms, predate on the native population. Whether destroying them will help or not is debatable but I wouldn't personally take issue with them being hoovered.

There is an excellent iRecord app which helps with identification and it was submitting a record which elicited this hibernation info in an email from one of the scientists conducting a census of ladybirds in the UK.

[Tweenies]

The ladybirds that have taken up residence in our homes are the imposters.... Our own native beautiful red lady birds, Did not hibernate in our homes in such great numbers I was watching some programme on telly, and heard that they cause a bad smell, and that they bite...

[drewd]

It's quite hard to pick them up without damaging them. They are mostly immobile. I had thought they were dead but, based on others comments I guess they might be in a state of hibernation. They don't smell bad. It's kind of nice actually. A very earthy smell. Like the earth in a garden just after the rain. :-)

[Be.jones]

I struggle with greenfly and aphids every summer so I find it hard to think of ladybirds as a pest... Maybe a bit of local redistribution is needed!

[KJJ]

Ladybirds are lucky! I would love it if they came for a winter visit. :)