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ladybird invasion.

punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
in The potting shed
Yesterday, we had a vast swarm of ladybirds around the house, and now they are huddled together inside the porch and several upstairs rooms.
Most years we get a few, but I guess there must be at least 100.
Has anyone else had this happen?
How can you lie there and think of England
When you don't even know who's in the team

S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Any idea what kind they are? My parents' house seems to attract them and they get some big groups huddled in corners. Apparently they release a pheramone to tell their buddies that they've found a good spot to hang out for the winter. It has been suggested that swarms occur after a heatwave so chances are it could be a swarm year.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    There seem to be a mixture of native and Harlequin.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    @punkdoc  - if you have a look on the Rezzers 60 thread you'll see that Pansyface posted this morning saying there were swarms of ladybirds in her garden yesterday and that a lot have settled in her window casements. I think she lives in (nearly) the same part of the country as you.

    We always have lots of ladybirds overwintering in the upstairs south facing casement window frames - also huddled in groups in the ceiling corners. I don't mind that - but I don't like having a ladybird shower when I open a window. Have to remember to open one window every day from now on so they don't settle there and I have at least one window I can use for ventilation without disturbing the insects.

    Also seem to get a lot of lacewings hibernating in there as well.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Thanks @Topbird.
    I am very happy to have them, although it was a bit strange having them fly around the bedroom, until they all settled down.
    I wonder what triggers the event.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I remember a year in the  ‘70’s we were on Exmoor, you could not put a foot down without squashing them, they were like a carpet, follows a hot summer I think. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I remember one summer the prom in Cromer was covered with ladybirds
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204864/Plague-ladybirds-puts-families-flight-Holidaymakers-overrun-tens-millions-bugs.html

    I picked all our grapes the other day and left them in large bowls overnight ... the following day I had to rescue several native ladybirds ... I've noticed that in the early spring the trellis behind the vine is a favourite sunbathing spot for ladybirds so presume that they hibernate in the rough vine bark.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    For those concerned about harlequin / other foreign ladybirds v our native species - I think the current thinking is that we just leave them all be.

    There are now so many foreign ones that trying to kill them would almost certainly mean that some of the non-invasives and natives would be killed as well.

    Nature will find a balance - it usually does
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    pansyface said:
    Yes, we get them in their thousands every autumn. A warm, dry, sunny day seems to set them into motion. 

    Yesterday, if you stepped outside for more than a minute you had two on your neck, three in your hair and a couple crawling up your sleeves.

    Here is a photo taken last year of a gate post not far from us. As you can see, they come in all shapes and sizes. I’m not going to be the one who decides who is acceptable and who is a pest. Even if I knew enough about them to eliminate the pests,  I would be completely outnumbered.



    They are all Harlequins. Coming in all kind of disguise, that's why they're called Harlequins.  ;)
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I have had quite a lot of ladybirds on the windows in the sunshine this afternoon, and flying around the garden. Where were they earlier in the year when l had plants covered in aphids ?!!
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Yes, Lyn, I remember when we had swarms of ladybirds, too. It was 1976. There were thousands of them.
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