Ladybirds

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Locally over last couple of days have seen a few recently emerged 7-spots usually on plants such as Creeping Thistle which has a good population of Blackfly on it as well as the occasional Harlequin.

yes I saw my first seven spot for the year day before yesterday - I haven't been actively looking for them though I'd say 90% of the ladybirds I have just come across during my other surveys have been harlequins.....

[Astra]

My garden is full of ladybirds at the moment but sadly they are all Harlequin. They seem to love my Bronze Fennel and it was almost black with their larvae a couple of weeks ago.

What with that and a large infestation of Rosemary Leaf Beetle my garden is obviously a haven for foreign pests!!

[Jez]

Originally Posted by djackso

Hi Jez,

Could they be either the orange ladybird (12 or 16 spot) or the cream-spot ladybird (darker orange, 14 spots exactly).



DJ

Ooh I'll count next time I see one!

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by mrs fish

Same here What is the ladybird in the middle ?



Is that a Creeping Thistle ?

They're all 7-spots!

[mrs fish]

Thanks. I saw lots of seven-spots yesterday and a few Harlequins.

[Paul mabbott]

Give you two (maybe three) options! Depends where you're seeing them. If they're mainly on trees and are quite large (7-spot size, 6-7 mms) then they're probably orange ladybirds Halyzia sedecimguttata but if they're on low herbage and are smaller (2-spot size, 5mm) then most likely cream-spot ladybirds Calvia quattuordecimguttata.

Originally Posted by Jez

......... are orange with cream spots. Could any of you kindly tell me what type of ladybird I am spotting?!?

Cheers

Jez

[Paul mabbott]

As I've been saying on other threads, I think that ladybirds are very late this year. I've been around the city centre today and found quite a lot of 2-spots Adalia bipunctata, recently emerged from pupae but there are also still plenty of pupae around, with some larvae and even a few eggs. So, either we're getting on to a second generation, or everything has been running very late.

The only imagines I've seen in Sheffield this weekend have been 2-spots but the pupae include cream-spots Calvia quattuordecimguttata and 'harlequins' Harmonia axyridis.

[Paul mabbott]

I think the availability of aphids is very important. We've not yet got a great deal of greenfly up here but we do have sycamore aphids and blackfly. So ladybirds can find something to eat even if it's not the conventional greenfly that we expect to have on our roses and lime trees at this time. Also unfortunate that the blackfly is usually the wrong sort of aphid: I've seen a lot of ladybirds living on elder blackfly which isn't very good for them - but they can probably find nothing else ....

Originally Posted by mh68

Plenty in our garden, but we`ve got an infestation of greenfly this year, mainly on the Honeysuckle so masses of food for them. Also numbers of Lacewings which is a species i`ve not seen before this year, no doubt attracted by the hordes of greenfly too.Lots more insects in the garden than last year, but that`s possibly due to the pond maturing a bit, and more flowering plants this year to attract them.

Mark H

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Give you two (maybe three) options! Depends where you're seeing them. If they're mainly on trees and are quite large (7-spot size, 6-7 mms) then they're probably orange ladybirds Halyzia sedecimguttata but if they're on low herbage and are smaller (2-spot size, 5mm) then most likely cream-spot ladybirds Calvia quattuordecimguttata.

One actually landed on me last night, so I did my best to count the spots, but it was a game trying to get it to sit still !

My count of spots was 14!

[shutterbox]

I know who is responsible for the shortage in our garden, i caught this fellow last year red handed. On a serious note there is a distinct lack of insects this year..........JIM

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by shutterbox

I know who is responsible for the shortage in our garden, i caught this fellow last year red handed. On a serious note there is a distinct lack of insects this year...............JIM

Interesting shot. There has been some debate about whether or not mature birds eat coccelline ladybirds. I rather assume that they'll eat anything in desperation but it's not a common practice. Although most mature birds won't eat ladybirds, they seem less concerned about feeding them to their young (who swallow them whole and thus don't get to taset the haemolymph).

Was this bird eating them or carrying them away? Did you see it often? In the fledging season?
Nice picture ................

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by shutterbox

I know who is responsible for the shortage in our garden, i caught this fellow last year red handed. On a serious note there is a distinct lack of insects this year..........JIM

Excellent observational record! I've never seen this before despite having many House Sparrows in my garden. It does look as though this adult female may be collecting these 2 ladybirds to feed to young.

A couple of weeks back my Cardoons had plenty of Blackfly + the sparrows have polished them off. This time of the year I see small groups of them going through the vegetation looking for invertebrates.

I have mixed feelings about this as I've probably attracted un-naturally high numbers of House Sparrows by various food provisions with possibly adverse effects on some invertebrate species- a dilemna for sure!

[shutterbox]

I have several shots of this particular bird eating more than one ladybird even when our feeders were full of their regular food ie millet and sunflower hearts so i can only assume it was not hunger but perhaps opportunism.....JIM

[Amylou]

Iv seen quite a few where i am. I always put them out of harms way lol.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Amylou

Iv seen quite a few where i am. I always put them out of harms way lol.

Which sort have you got? We're expecting the 'harlequin ladybird' Harmonia axyridis to appear there any time now ....