7 spotted ladybirds

[dogsmercury]

Hi
one the way home from work i saw loads of 7 spotted ladybirds on a patch of waste ground. There must have been a hundred or so in a few square metres, is this the mating season for them now?




many thanks
Graham

[Jason Green]

Evening Graham,

I saw my first this year about a fortnight ago. Well, as for an explanation as to why you're seeing so many of them now - I imagine the weather has awoken them from their communal hibernation site. It may be a little too early for mating as there aren't many aphids around yet, and in-turn big-enough plants to support them.

Others may have other reasons

Take care,

Jason

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by dogsmercury

is this the mating season for them now?

Some of them seem to think so

[Grrrrrr]

Shed loads in my area. Really odd. Usually I get loads of aphids etc and I'm desperate for the lady-birds to appear. This year everywhere I look I see hundreds of ladybirds but nothing for them to feed on. 2 ideas spring to mind.

1) Harsher winter affects aphids etc more than ladybirds.

2) Last year just happened to be a very god year for ladybirds.

3) New variety of ladybird has arrived / developed that takes colder winters in its stride and awakens earlier.

Answers on a postcard, please ...

[Grrrrrr]

Realise that was 3 ideas but in fairness I was making it up as I went along!

[Grrrrrr]

Who's Brian?(!)

[dogsmercury]

thanks to all of you for your replies

Graham

[Paul mabbott]

Why not 4) ladybirds ate all the aphids?
I've seen quite a few 7-spots, Coccinella septempunctata in the East Midlands this weekend and they are noticeably small. Some of the males are about the usual size of a 2-spot, Adalia bipunctata

Originally Posted by Grrrrrr

Shed loads in my area. Really odd. Usually I get loads of aphids etc and I'm desperate for the lady-birds to appear. This year everywhere I look I see hundreds of ladybirds but nothing for them to feed on. 2 ideas spring to mind.

1) Harsher winter affects aphids etc more than ladybirds.

2) Last year just happened to be a very god year for ladybirds.

3) New variety of ladybird has arrived / developed that takes colder winters in its stride and awakens earlier.

Answers on a postcard, please ...

[JRsbugs]

I'm seeing 7-spots everywhere I look, many nestle in the top of evergreenshrubs but every time I clean something up I find them under leaves, never seen so many.

I haven't seen any small 7-spots, but I have seen some very small Harmonia axyridis. They have been overwintering in the window gaps, quite a lot have died but I've booted others out now the weather is better although there wasn't huge numbers of them. Strangely I barely saw a H. axyridis last year. Some are as small as a 2 spot which is unusual given that the 7 spots here are all big.

Maybe the 7-spots here are winning over H. axyridis, at least in my part of the woods.

Janet

[aeshna5]

All of the 7-spots I've seen around London appear to be "normal" sized.