Attack of the ladybirds

Tue 10 Oct 2023, 18:11

Ladybirds go through two or three generations in the warm season. The ones around now are the last of this year's adults who've developed from the ferocious black garden monsters of the nymph form (those long-abdomened critters with a couple of red spots are the most voracious of aphid eaters, a lot of people don't know the connection and kill these evil looking "pests". Alas.

The nymphs who've been around for weeks have now transformed into the adult Ladybirds we love. This last generation doesn't reproduce immediately but are now seeking over-wintering refuges from the cold season. It is really important that this adult generation survive the cold in some good hideaway that is not exposed.

The Ladybirds now in adult form will next year lay the eggs for the first of that summer's generations. I don't recall details (a Nature Conservation Masters was over 30 years ago and where does both time and knowledge disappear to so fast?): Do these over-wintering adults mate now in the autumn and hoard eggs and/or sperm for next year? Or do they mate and lay upon arrival of next year's warmth and they're coming out from shelter? And next year, do our present adults, duty done, quickly expire? Or do they survive for a time, mating and laying more than once?

Moving a couple of miles south from inner-city Brixton, London, in the late 1980s -from a land with small or no gardens - into sprawling 20th century suburbia and narrow 100 foot gardens - well we rediscovered Ladybirds.

But we found Ladybirds in serious trouble and collapsing numbers, largely the result of extensive pesticide use. We made hidey-holes for the over-wintering Ladybird generation using suggestions around conservation circles, and probably much more significantly, left much dead vegetation standing, piles of vegetative litter around, and so forth. I'm quite sure that over the next few years the number of species and beetles - the not so obvious nymphs and much more noticeable adults - increased.

It doesn't need to be much effort. Just leaving vegetation standing, untidy piles of cuttings, not "making it look smart and tidy" etc. Simple measures can make a significant difference to the chances of surviving winter for our pest-control friends. Just one or two beetle-friendly houses can make a difference to the whole area.