Did anybody watch the programme last night about the heatwave in 1976? It showed swarms of ladybirds absolutely covering people and cars etc and apparently biting people as well - for food they said!
I don't remember that, only the wall to wall sunshine for weeks and weeks!
That does ring a bell.... it was a very strange year, we had snow in June, only a little bit but it snowed.
I have very fond memories of that year. I'd been working at National Westminster Bank locally and was delivering mail by hand in the High St wearing a short-sleeved shirt and it started snowing in mid-June. I'd already handed my notice in and left shortly after. I was 19 then and spent the summer with other mates who were also not working - we had holidays and generally had a great time - mostly in pubs. I can't stand the heat now, but loved it then. Oh the ladybirds! - seeing that part on the telly brought it all back. They were everywhere and on almost everything and every now and then you'd feel a sharp nip. Great memories of a thoroughly enjoyable and misspent youth
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I remember drought summer 1976 so clearly: I was 6 and my mum was heavily pregnant with my sister (harsh!). She’d take me to Regents Park in the evening, as it was too hot during the day. I remember the grass in the lark had completely died and all was yellow.
I vividly recall our school playground being quite literally carpeted in ladybirds. We loved it! There was something magical about it all. There were piles of ladybirds in every outdoor corner of anything, including in all the road gulleys, it was insane. They never bit! Maybe that was a Daily Mail article 😁
I got bitten by a couple of harlequins a few years ago. Sharp sting! Expletive! You little ......! No other effect. They were in the ivy so not much to eat there.
I was doing A-levels in 1976. In our chemistry practical we were supposed to find the melting point of an unknown substance but it was so hot that it never solidified! After the exams we went to Brighton for a day out. There were crowds of ladybirds flying out to sea and they definitely did bite!
So pleased that nature is being allowed to balance itself in your garden @dappledshade. I haven't seen that many ladybirds in my garden this summer but there aren't too many aphids either. I remember the summer of '76 really well. I was working near Regents Street and living near Richmond and there were ladybirds everywhere - it was impossible to avoid walking on them on the pavements.
I remember the summer of 1976 but no recollection of ladybirds or even discussion of ladybirds - that completely passed me by! My main drought-related memory is going on holiday to a rented cottage on Guernsey with another family and there being a sign on the toilet door saying 'Please do not flush unless solid' which I found embarrassingly graphic as an 8 year old 😵💫
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
Update: the ladybirds are nowhere to be seen, as the aphids have been beaten into submission. I suppose they’re off looking for new lunch spaces… My little damson is far happier. We built a bug hotel a few weeks ago, out of an old bird house that hadn’t seen any any action in years - to encourage the ladybirds (or other) to overwinter, what’s the best thing to do? I had heard that painting sugar water onto the front would attract them.
Posts
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
I'd been working at National Westminster Bank locally and was delivering mail by hand in the High St wearing a short-sleeved shirt and it started snowing in mid-June.
I'd already handed my notice in and left shortly after.
I was 19 then and spent the summer with other mates who were also not working - we had holidays and generally had a great time - mostly in pubs. I can't stand the heat now, but loved it then.
Oh the ladybirds! - seeing that part on the telly brought it all back. They were everywhere and on almost everything and every now and then you'd feel a sharp nip.
Great memories of a thoroughly enjoyable and misspent youth
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
She’d take me to Regents Park in the evening, as it was too hot during the day.
I remember the grass in the lark had completely died and all was yellow.
I vividly recall our school playground being quite literally carpeted in ladybirds. We loved it! There was something magical about it all. There were piles of ladybirds in every outdoor corner of anything, including in all the road gulleys, it was insane. They never bit! Maybe that was a Daily Mail article 😁
I remember the summer of '76 really well. I was working near Regents Street and living near Richmond and there were ladybirds everywhere - it was impossible to avoid walking on them on the pavements.
If it's brown, flush it down.
My little damson is far happier.
We built a bug hotel a few weeks ago, out of an old bird house that hadn’t seen any any action in years - to encourage the ladybirds (or other) to overwinter, what’s the best thing to do? I had heard that painting sugar water onto the front would attract them.