The Ladybird Saga

tread_softly

So I'm out the back garden earlier on hanging out clothes, when I notice a ladybird floating in a bucket of rainwater.
I scooped him out and he was alive so I spent the next 40 minutes sitting in the sunshine letting him dry out on my hand.

It was fascinating getting a long look at him up close, cleaning himself and stretching out his wings. We bonded

So after a while he's walking round more and I figure he's ready to take off. We've no plants in our garden so I lifted my hand up over the neighbour's wall so he'd fly in there. I was so happy my friend was ready for his second chance at life after his near drowning :pac:

He spread his wings and took off, only for a gust of wind to catch him and blow him into a spider's web on our shed I ran over but the spider had come out on a flash and was on him already.

I was so fecking upset after I'd spent the last 40 ish mins letting him chill on my hand!! I'm embarrassed to say I had to go back into the house to sit down and feel upset.

I ended up going back to the web out of morbid curiosity to find him alive and trying to get out of the web with no spider in sight!

I got him out and he spent a little while on my hand again before he took off.
He had some orange gunk on his legs and wings that he was cleaning off. Anyone have any idea what happened??
Hope the little fecker is ok, I brought him to the other neighbour's wall away from the shed to fly off

Here he is

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Well done on all fronts.
As the red and black markings suggest, ladybirds are poisonous to many animals. They also give of a foul odour when attacked. The combination of the warning colours and odur would out the spider off.

Graces7

nice one, ladybird!

Day Lewin

They also exude a smelly yellow substance when alarmed, i have sometimes found this

My garden is suddenly teeming with ladybirds this last week, I dont know if they have hatched from larvae, or woken up from overwintering. (WE had almost no frost at all, this winter)

They are sunbathing and warming up, so I'm looking forwards to a new batch being born later on!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

katemarch wrote: »

They also exude a smelly yellow substance when alarmed, i have sometimes found this

My garden is suddenly teeming with ladybirds this last week, I dont know if they have hatched from larvae, or woken up from overwintering. (WE had almost no frost at all, this winter)

They are sunbathing and warming up, so I'm looking forwards to a new batch being born later on!

Any adults at present are overwintered individuals rather than metamorphosised larvae.

mr.wiggle

My garden is covered in them, counted over a hundred only yesterday, all basking in the evening sunshine.
I do remember late last year there was swarms of them around the country , my place included.

dgt

mr.wiggle wrote: »

My garden is covered in them, counted over a hundred only yesterday, all basking in the evening sunshine.
I do remember late last year there was swarms of them around the country , my place included.

Same at our house, plenty of them to be seen on the hedges! Always nice to see plenty of them around to keep the green flies away :cool:

maringo

Wow. A lot of them here but not into the 100s. Wonder will they eat the dandelions

deise08

A gathering of ladybirds is called 'a lovelyness'
isn't that nice?

well done op. They're great little creatures

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

maringo wrote: »

Wow. A lot of them here but not into the 100s. Wonder will they eat the dandelions

As Ladybirds eat aphids and drink water with sometimes pollen and nectar in the lead up to winter hibernation, I'm afraid the dandelions are safe from them.

The current high numbers are due to the great summer last year and the mild winter. If we get a long sunny spell into summer this year we may see a ladybird swarm - it has been a long time since we saw one not them here!

shroom007

its great to see them.Even in the city on the balcony we has a few,
the weirdest place I say them was up Mt Etna in Sicily thousands of them on the rocks and lava

thimble

Loads of them in my garden too today (though not quite as many as in dgt's hedge! Hope that's a sign I'll have fewer greenfly than last year!

Day Lewin

Ladybird survey!

It is a great year for the little red beetles and there is a nationwide survey on to get a comprehensive picture of their species and distributions. If you care to, you can report sightings to biology.ie and record your sightings.
The more information received, the better the data!

Record your sightings at http://www.biology.ie/sub-step1.php?m=ladybirds2

axe2grind

Frances Bald Roadway wrote: »

If we get a long sunny spell into summer this year we may see a ladybird swarm - it has been a long time since we saw one not them here!

1976?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

axe2grind wrote: »

1976?

Yes!

Day Lewin

Keep a specially vigilant eye out for Harlequin ladybirds, a new and very invasive alien.
Please report all sightings to biology.ie or else to the Irish Wildlife Trust.
They have a stand at BLOOM which has some good information about ladybirds.