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Quick survey: Have you seen any ladybirds this year?? I haven't.

48 replies

Chaotica · 25/06/2009 17:51

Yet there are greenfly everywhere and we should have a plague of them by now, like there was in 1976... (I am that old ).

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AnarchyAunt · 25/06/2009 17:52

I have seen three.

Two of those were on the same plant 'having a cuddle' as DD put it

Nowhere near as many as usual.

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ninah · 25/06/2009 17:53

lots of greenfly
did find one ladybird up my trouserleg yesterday, it was freakishly huge

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PortAndLemon · 25/06/2009 17:53

I've seen one I remember thinking "ah, the first ladybird of summer" but now you mention it, I don't think I've seen any more.

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Chaotica · 25/06/2009 17:54

That's better than me then. Let's hope that their cuddle results in lots of ladybirds

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GrimmaTheNome · 25/06/2009 17:54

Gosh, you're right, I've not seen any yet.

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SlartyBartFast · 25/06/2009 17:56

i saw one, flipped it off my hand before i realised what it was

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MrsMcCluskey · 25/06/2009 17:56

Funnily enough I was looking "atthis" yesterday.
It's worrying, I havent seen any at all this year

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CherryChoc · 25/06/2009 17:58

I've seen one weird black one with yellow spots.

The abundance of greenfly is probably because there aren't many ladybirds, surely?

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MaybeAfterBreakfast · 25/06/2009 17:59

Think I've seen 3, and one was yellow rather than red.

Haven't seen any greenfly yet.

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Chaotica · 25/06/2009 17:59

MrsMcCluskey - I checked out the link. They have ladybirds posting on Twitter (Well, it turns out they don't when you read it again properly - might be onto something here then, unfortunately.)

Come to think of it, I think I did see one in about february (just after the snow )

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posieparker · 25/06/2009 17:59

I have not seen any...I have four dcs if there were any ladybirds around I would have been notified

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Chaotica · 25/06/2009 18:02

Cherrychoc - there might well be a connection with greenfly numbers. I have seen some odd looking beetles taking up the slack and an awful lot of little spiders trying to catch them.

(I wanted to post on here as I only have my own area and a research team of three toddlers and a childminder to help me.)

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LovelyTinOfSpam · 25/06/2009 18:03

No ladybirds

And terrible greenfly.

And those red lily beetles that cause so much damage mating having a cuddle left right and centre.

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ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 25/06/2009 18:05

no haven't seen any and usually we are over run with them.
DS2 got mobbed by a gang of greenfly in the park on Monday they were all over his (yllow) tshirt iin his hair and face and mouth.. we left, it was toooooo horrid.

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CarGirl · 25/06/2009 18:06

no ladybirds here.

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Tambajam · 25/06/2009 18:11

That's soooo odd. We are absolutely swamped with them here in North London. We have a little wall on the way to school where we often count 20+ and our garden is full of them.
However the majority are still in the juvenile stage or in the pupa still. Sorry to be patronizing but is this something you are familiar with? A juvenile ladybird is very different from an adult:
www.ladybird-survey.org/downloads/Ladybird%20larvae_v.1.4.pdf
Adults have only just started emerging recently so perhaps they are later than usual.

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MagicMountain · 25/06/2009 18:12

Just the one.

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pushkar · 25/06/2009 18:25

hi i saw a lady bird in wandswoth common it flew onto our juice carton but it is the first i have seen
i hope they are not beginning extinct

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lljkk · 25/06/2009 18:26

Have seen a fair few ladybirds, all sizes and sorts.
But it is DEFINITELY The Summer of the Greenfly. They have been scarey in their sheer numbers. Better since it's gone drier and windier last few days.

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PinkTulips · 25/06/2009 18:26

they've been disappearing over here for a few years already

one so far this year but hordes of aphids

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Chaotica · 25/06/2009 18:33

Thanks for the link, Tambajam (my understanding of insects is a bit homespun ). Unfortunately, I don't think I've seen any young ladybirds either, although I'll look out for them.

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thehouseofmirth · 25/06/2009 18:38

DS's nursery teacher was showing us all a load of baby ladybirds today on the school gate. We all realised we'd seen the larvae before but didn't know what they were.

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AnarchyAunt · 25/06/2009 18:39

We know about young ladybirds, and last summer we saw lots of them as well as lots of adults.

But this year - next to none.

What's going on? Is it an official shortage?

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AnarchyAunt · 25/06/2009 18:41

ladybird survey

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hockeypuck · 25/06/2009 18:43

We've got more ladybirds than normal. We've even had 3 in the car in the last week! flying in when the doors are open (we don't have the windows open cos we have air con).

Oh dear now I'm singing 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, ladyugs came to the ladybug picnic from Sesame Street

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