The gardener's friend

[SmartWombat]

The ladybird.
Both adults and larvae eat aphids, so if you see these in your garden, they are doing you a good turn

[Frog]

Is that the larva then? I know what you call lady bird we call lady bug.
We had nests in our house a couple of years. The one I found was a mass in a corner of an unused room with the diameter of a dinner plate or more. Haven't seen many the last couple years.

[SmartWombat]

They'll quite often overwinter in a house, they tend to cluster in the corners of windows, I don't know why they choose that particular kind of spot.

This is the Harlequin ladybird, not a UK native but invaded in the South East and spread over about half the country now. You have a similar problem in the USA the the same species.

Possibly the most invasive ladybird on Earth and the fastest spreading in Europe the destructive beetle feeds mainly on, but not restricted to, aphids and will also devour other ladybirds.

Other food sources include scale insects, the eggs and larvae of butterflies and moths, many other small insects, pollen, nectar, fluids and juices from a variety of fruit.

[OldClicker]

We (northern US) have what we call the Asian Lady Beatle that has taken over from our native Ladybug. When they first spread, they were so thick that they covered entire walls in some places. It is the one I use a lot for macros because it is nearly always available in the house or garage. - TF

[racedraper]

shoot I see more Chinese lady bugs more then the native ones and those suckers bite. very cool pic .

[OldClicker]

The 'bug people' tell me they are just tasting, not biting.

BTW - I see my spelling is the result of another invasion - this one from Britain c. 1962.

TF