Ladybird Invasion

I’ve been struggling to think of things that are on topic for this blog. Perhaps that’s a creative failing of mine, but it just feels like nothing is really happening. And that’s odd, isn’t it? Because it should be a very busy time of year. Our distinct lack of rain has meant that I’m not having to battle too many weeds, things aren’t growing wildly out of control, and the blackfly are sucking the life out of most new shoots on my more tender plants (i.e. anything that isn’t a squash).

But the good news is that last week, we had what I assume to be a hatching of ladybirds on a truly epic scale. At first, they were emerging from our yellowed lawn, which made walking across to the veg plots very difficult. It was literally a case of take one step, check, take another step, check. Knowing that my cosmos and runner beans were suffering from a particularly bad case of blackfly, I decided to do some assisted ladybird migration. I must have spent a good hour carefully collecting handfuls of ladybirds, loosely clasping my hands around them to contain them, whilst I gingerly tip-toed over to my veg plots, gently nudging each ladybird off my hands and onto the blackfly-infested plant shoots. Some were obviously hungry (argh, guilt, poor blackfly, I must be mad, etc etc) and others seemed to find a nice spot to settle down and, er, sleep. Or whatever it is ladybirds do when they’re not moving.

I think we counted about 80+ ladybirds during that first ‘move’. I usually find a good 10-15 each day scuttling over the lawn (usually removing them so I don’t step on them later on), and move them over to my cosmos or runner beans, and they seem to like nestling around my squashes too. Suffice to say, my blackfly problem is vastly improving.

Is this a ladybird larva?

I’ve also spotted larvae and pupae at various stages of their own individual evolutions, but I’m yet to identify whether they’re Harlequins or not. I think I’ve only seen one ladybird ‘imposter’ scamping about, so that’s a bonus.

Harlequin - could this be the ladybird imposter?

This website, describing different ladybirds, has proved quite interesting and informative. I think we have an abundance of 5-spot and 7-spot ladybirds, a few 2 spots, and a (small) handful the other varieties (kidney spot & pine ladybirds, 14 spot, 16 spot, possibly a 22 spot), which I’d previously mistaken for Harlequins (but never touched, thankfully).

I’ve always been a bit tentative about using the word ‘pest’ - after all, I think most things have their place in the ‘food web’, and it’s only really when they become an inconvenience (sometimes only mildly so) for us that we tend to label and vilify them as such. Blackfly, for me, are no doubt an inconvenience. But for my ladybirds, my garden birds, hoverflies and probably an array of other animals and insects, they’re not so bad.

Weight: I don’t know. It turns out my scales have been lying

Run: 1 x 5k this week, down to 36:22

Tags: blackfly, harlequin, ladybird, ladybirds, larva, pest