My first Eyed ladybird

22 Tuesday Apr 2025

Tags

Anatis ocellata, Britain's ladybirds, Eyed ladybird, ladybird, ladybird on Pine

This lovely little creature was a bit lost. I found it sitting on some nettles beside a busy road. Admittedly, the bank above was covered in tall broadleaf trees and scrub but with none of the Pine trees the Eyed ladybird (Anatis ocellata) is meant to associate with. And the reason for that association is the fact that it eats Pine aphids.

This was my first ever sighting of an Eyed ladybird, Britain’s largest at 8-9 mm. I’ve been looking more closely at Pine trees lately but I’ve not seen one there … yet. The adults are out and about from Spring through to Autumn, so I’ll keep looking.

I wish I’d been able to get better photos but, you know, nettles!

My first Pine ladybird

10 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird

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Tags

British beetles, British ladybirds, Exochomus quadripustulatus, ladybird, Pine ladybird

I don’t know why this has taken me so long but yesterday, by sheer chance, I finally found my first Pine ladybird (Exochomus quadripustulatus), which also happened to be the 1600th species I’ve recorded with my local biodiversity records centre since I first started recording back in February 2016.

At first, I wasn’t entirely sure it was a Pine ladybird but a ladybird sitting on a Pine tree had to be a strong contender so I took some photos and, when I checked later at home, I was able to confirm that the red splodges that look a bit like commas on the front of its black wing-casings (elytra) are diagnostic.

The Pine ladybird is listed as common throughout much of England and Wales, though, in fact, there are only nine records of this little ladybird, dating from 2007-2022, in my local 10km grid square, and that is my excuse for not having found it before now! You can see a map of its distribution on the UK Beetle Recording website here.

Lucky, unlucky

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

aphid, British hoverflies, hoverfly larva, ladybird, ladybird eating aphid, Syrphus sp larvae

The aphid-eating hoverfly larva (likely one of the Syrphus species) missed its chance here. As you’ll see, though, the ladybird was more on the ball and the aphid lost its second chance.

(I’ve set the video to mute as this park railing is next to a very busy road but I’m not sure that setting has worked, so best to mute your sound before viewing the video.)

Hiding in plain sight

17 Wednesday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird, winter

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7-spot ladybird, British ladybirds, ladybird, ladybirds in winter

Have you ever wondered where ladybirds go in winter? Some of them hide away in crevices in tree bark, or under unused flower pots in garden sheds; some even invade our houses, where they can often be found huddled together along the edges of windows.

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Others can be spotted outside, hiding in plain sight, as you see here, tucked in holes in fences or clinging on beneath seed heads. They’re such wonderful, though tiny pops of colour in an otherwise fairly drab landscape.

240117 ladybird (2)

Counting spots

18 Saturday Jun 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

14-spot ladybird, 22-spot ladybird, 24-spot ladybird, British ladybirds, Cream-spot ladybird, ladybird, ladybug, Orange ladybird

I love the bright pops of colour ladybirds (or ladybugs, as they’re known in some countries) provide on the leaves of trees, shrubs and grasses as I’m meandering through the landscape. And they’re usually easy to identify, simply by counting their spots, which is always a bonus with insects. These are a few I’ve recently encountered: 14-spot (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata) and 22-spot (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata); a new species for me, the 24-spot ladybird (Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata) (recognisable by its red head, even if you can’t count the spots); and two that are named for their colours so no spot counting required, the Cream-spot (Calvia quattuordecimguttata) (okay, this could be confusing as it has 14 spots and isn’t really cream, more of a red-brown) and the Orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata).

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286/365 Bright spots

13 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British ladybirds, ladybird, ladybirds

191013 ladybirds (1)

It was such a pleasure to see these ladybirds, bright spots of vibrant colour on a particularly dull wet day.

95/365 Braving the weather

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British insects, bumblebee, flies, hoverfly, insects, ladybird

I only managed to grab an hour’s walk today, once again dodging the rain showers that have been rolling in throughout the day. I thought I might blog about the wild garlic that’s covering every inch of the wilder areas in Penarth’s Alexandra Park but decided it would be better to wait until the flowers are at their peak as that would make for better photos. Then, as I was checking out the garlic and taking a few shots, my eye was caught by the number of insects sitting on their leaves, basking in the fleeting patches of sunshine, braving the weather on this mostly grey wet day. So here they are …

Signs of spring: minibeasts

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

bees, bumblebee, flies, hoverflies, ladybird, minibeasts, signs of spring

‘If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.’
~ E. O. Wilson (1929 – ), American biologist, environmentalist, author

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It’s a miracle!

07 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Halyzia 16-punctata, Halyzia secedimguttata, ladybird, ladybird larva, ladybird lifecycle, ladybird pupa, ladybug, Orange ladybird

I believe I may have an addiction to ladybirds! When I decided to write this post, I thought I’d just check that I hadn’t covered this topic already: of course, I knew I had written about ladybirds before but I didn’t realise quite how many times. There’s a post here and here and again here and another one here. Well, in spite of all those, here’s another one because, when I found all the Orange ladybirds pictured here within five minutes of each other yesterday, I was struck yet again by just how incredible is their transformation from egg to larva …

170907 Orange ladybird (1)

to pupa …

to ladybird. It really is quite miraculous!

170907 Orange ladybird (5)

Wildflowers that aren’t

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, parks, wildflowers

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bumblebee, Floral Friday, insects on flowers, ladybird, wildflowers, wildflowers in city parks

170825 flowers & insects (1)

I’m in two minds about the current trend amongst city councils to plant beds of wildflowers in local parks. I’m told that the seed mixes are often imported from Europe because they’re cheaper, so they’re not necessarily flower species that would grow naturally in the local area. It seems a token gesture on the part of councils rather than any kind of commitment to the environment. On the other hand, I can’t help but enjoy the colourful flowers, and the insects also seem to benefit from them. What do you think?