Ladybird plague? Hopefully not quite that many!

I’ve never seen so many ladybirds overwintering in the garden, as I’ve seen this year.

I’m really pleased that they all seem to be our classic 7 Spot Ladybird ‘Coccinella septempunctata’, rather than some non native invaders.

Every pile of leaves I started to clear had ladybirds under them. All of the covers on the raised vegetable beds, when I lifted them to get at the kale or Brussels sprouts had a few under them. Every nook and cranny more ladybirds.

When I was winter pruning the apples, I started to loosen their ties, only to find ladybirds under every one. I’ve just remembered to go around loosening the ties last weekend. I’m pleased to report there were no ladybirds sleeping in!

This is no surprise as they are now busy all over the garden.
They can munch their way through as many aphids as they want! I’m tempted to say you can’t have too many ladybirds, but I do just about remember a ladybird plague when I was a little girl, so I’d probably rather we didn’t have that many again!

In 1976 The British Entomological and Natural History Society estimated that 23.65 billion ladybirds swarmed on the southern and eastern coasts of England by late July. This population then extended across more or less the whole of England and Wales, alongside some parts of southern Scotland.

Love them, don’t love them, love them

My dad was a very keen gardener and would pick all sorts of insects up as he was digging, I’d be horrified! I hated all ‘creepy crawlies’ and even though I loved being outside with him and was more than happy getting my hands mucky. All these creatures with too many legs and worms slithering around freaked me out!

But the humble little ladybird was the one ‘creepy crawly’ that I wasn’t scared of. I would happily have these colourful little characters walking all over my hands, then they’d open their tiny lace, fairy wings and fly away.

All it took to put pay to that, was during the ‘ladybird plague’ my dad saying “ow that ladybird’s just bitten me, that’s the third one now, I’ve never known that before”. That was it, no more creepy crawlies on me!!!

Many years passed before I picked one up again. But I now pick them up to move them, to where I have too many aphids. They are one of my little army of garden helpers. My garden now has a virtual sign up saying, all wildlife (including creepy crawlies) welcome here.

I do everything in my power to follow the late, great, Geoff Hamilton. He advocated that even ‘pests of the garden’ were food for ‘friends of the garden’. Encourage the widest range of wildlife in and it will all balance out. What a shame we lost him way too early.

Luckily his ground breaking ethos is now common amongst so many influential gardeners. Bob Flowerdew, Frances Tophill, Adam Frost, Joe Swift and Chris Beardshaw, just to mention a few. We’ve been lucky enough to have had three of them to speak at our local horticultural society. Let’s hope that will be possible again soon!

Fancy not knowing a ladybirds lifecycle!

In late summer a couple of years after we moved here, I noticed some strange chrysalis (pupa) on almost every sage leaf. A week or two later there were loads of strange insects (lava) that I didn’t recognise. My mother-in-law came and we sat in the garden, she said they’re ladybird lava. How can I have lived in the countryside all of my life and never have seen one before.