Ladybirds

[frogwoman]

Basically it's generally a light brown, orange or burgundy colour with cream 'streaks' on its wing cases and a varying number of spots. The closest UK relative to a harlequin (although it is non invasive) and easily confused with a 10 spot which also has a huge amount of different possible patterns. Unlike those, cream streaked ladybirds generally get found on or around conifers though. Apparently the bands of merged spots (as in my previous post) are more unusual.

 

[frogwoman]

Another recent first for me was finding an "eyed ladybird" in the garden

Anatis ocellata - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

[will be here in a bit oaw[I] - Insects & spiders {other than bees/wasps & lepidoptera} when I've uploaded the images]

Do you have any conifers in your garden? That was a lifer for me until I explored a local woodland. I then found one on a gravestone a few years later but rarely see them. Something quite special was finding an Eyed Ladybird pupa over lockdown in the woods and monitoring it until I saw the newly emerged ladybird one time when I walked up.

 

[StoneRoad]

Do you have any conifers in your garden? That was a lifer for me until I explored a local woodland. I then found one on a gravestone a few years later but rarely see them. Something quite special was finding an Eyed Ladybird pupa over lockdown in the woods and monitoring it until I saw the newly emerged ladybird one time when I walked up.

Yes, about half the "wild wood" that we planted about 25 years ago are conifers, mostly spruce. The rest are mostly native hardwoods with a few "weed" trees included. Some of the original trees - not actually mine, sadly - are quite tall and mature looking Scot's Pine.
The bug in question was under the edge of the canopy of the wild wood.

 

[frogwoman]

Yes, about half the "wild wood" that we planted about 25 years ago are conifers, mostly spruce. The rest are mostly native hardwoods with a few "weed" trees included. Some of the original trees - not actually mine, sadly - are quite tall and mature looking Scot's Pine.
The bug in question was under the edge of the canopy of the wild wood.

Nice

Do you have a pic?

 

[frogwoman]

I saw this eyed ladybird a few years ago now.

 

[frogwoman]

Back by popular demand

 

[frogwoman]

 

[frogwoman]

I'm gonna do an episode on the evolution of ladybirds soon. The first ladybird appeared between 124 and 143 million years ago.

 

[frogwoman]