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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
Members: 50,149
Threads: 82,327
Posts: 853,140
Top Poster: glsammy (15,069)
| | Welcome to our newest member, TransAmDan | |  | | 
22-09-2006, 04:33 PM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 923
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
The hospitalisations in the US have sprung from 100's of ladybirds coming into houses to hibernate (check out the photo here: Multicolored Asian lady beetle). Not something that is going to happen here yet... |
22-09-2006, 07:55 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Sheffield, FPRSY
Posts: 7,655
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
Yes, to date, the largest number of interlopers in UK has been around the twenty-thirty mark: somewhat below USAmerican levels ... yet. There have been some quite large intrusions in Belgium. Possibly the critical thing will be the temperatures and aphid availability over the next two or three weeks. There are probably quite a few larvae/pupae around at present and if these manage to feed up (possibly reproducing again as they did last year) then come the cool weather at the end of October they'll be looking for somewhere snug for the winter .... But I would have expected this to have happened last year when there were tens of thousands in London and they didn't go indoors. Are British houses different from those in USA? Quote: |
Originally Posted by Imaginos The hospitalisations in the US have sprung from 100's of ladybirds coming into houses to hibernate (check out the photo here: Multicolored Asian lady beetle). Not something that is going to happen here yet... | |
22-09-2006, 08:09 PM
|  | Frozen | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: N.E. Lincolnshire
Posts: 4,126
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Paul mabbott Are British houses different from those in USA? | A large proportion are of wood construction - especially outside the main city areas. With lapped wood cladding exterior walls and shingle roof tops. More creavices and warmer I would expect. |
22-09-2006, 08:14 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Sheffield, FPRSY
Posts: 7,655
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
Yes, I can see that. Interesting to follow up whether these big US intrusions are related to particular types of housing?
However, they also enter flats in (e.g.) NYC which I suspect are not wooden!
Did I mention that I found a pupa in Sheffield today? That brings the northern extension into a nice line from Merseyside to Humberside ...... Quote: |
Originally Posted by Alan A large proportion are of wood construction - especially outside the main city areas. With lapped wood cladding exterior walls and shingle roof tops. More creavices and warmer I would expect. | |
22-09-2006, 08:17 PM
| | Frozen | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: N.E. Lincolnshire
Posts: 4,126
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Paul mabbott Yes, I can see that. Interesting to follow up whether these big US intrusions are related to particular types of housing?
However, they also enter flats in (e.g.) NYC which I suspect are not wooden!
Did I mention that I found a pupa in Sheffield today? That brings the northern extension into a nice line from Merseyside to Humberside ...... | Can't say I've noticed any here yet. Is there any type of action plan being drawn-up? Not that I can see how it would be implemented. I suppose the best that can be done for now is monitoring. |
23-09-2006, 06:41 AM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,609
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
I don't think there is anything we can do about them, a bit like the Horse Chestnut Leafminer Moth, which currently is a much bigger problem here in south. It's possible the Harlequin won't be the ecological disaster it's been in the US- these things aren't always predictable. Not that I'm being complacent- but as you suggest we must monitor its progress + that of other ladybirds, for which there is a good recording scheme, to see what impact, if any, it has. |
26-09-2006, 07:53 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Sheffield, FPRSY
Posts: 7,655
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
The original plan was that by encouraging people to collect them, the first invaders would not reproduce - but there were too many! There is a vague hope that some selective bacterium can be found but no one's holding their breath ...
Over the last few days there have been more reports than there were during the end of August (presumably the weather delayed their activity) including the first one in Sheffield ...
People ask where is the best place to find them: obviously anywhere that has aphids but also in other places: they seem to be very abundant in graveyards where they pupate on gravestones but also other vertical surfaces (usually N or W facing) walls, traffic bollards, railway fencing and tree trunks .... |
26-09-2006, 09:12 AM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Verwood, Dorset
Posts: 602
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
the most consistent place i found them in my garden was in amounst the aphids on the apple tree larvae too.
Chris |
26-09-2006, 11:39 AM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Gloucestershire
Posts: 1,366
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
|
26-09-2006, 01:30 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2,795
| | | Re: Harlequin Ladybirds
I am glad to say I have not seen one yet and I am not far from north essex where the first was recorded.
I have seen plenty of seven spotted this year.
They may go indoors in north america especially Ohio because it gets alot colder there than here, last year it was mild here in the autumn and early part of winter, and the report in Ohio says they start to come indoors after the first frosts.
Should we not kill the ones we find?
I thought scarlet lilly beetles were sweet when I first saw them  | | | |
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