I have a loveliness of ladybirds 🐞 in the corner of my bathroom cabinet and I’m wondering when I might need to issue a dispersion order.

[LongFaulks]

No idea why they have decided to ?hibernate in there for the winter but as they’re not doing anything anything apart from forming a collective huddle I thought I’d just let them get on with it.

Come the spring what might occur?

I’m no prude but the thought of some sort of springtime ladybird orgy occurring next to my vitamin D tablets and a subsequent population explosion is a bit beyond the pale.

Can someone advise when I can usher them out, and the best means for doing this please.

I think you are better off with those than a massive spider like the one I had to sentence to death the other day. 🙃

We have a huge amount of them hiding in the frames of our son's bedroom window.

We noticed a lack of ladybirds this summer and a huge amount of aphids etc so my DP decided to buy a cute little ladybird house and a small pot of ladybirds. We mounted it on the house (nowhere near the colonised window).

I opened the window and the sides were covered in them. They were pushing past massive spiders and generally throwing their weight around with all the other insects.

I daren't check the other windows 😄.
Not sure whether to leave them or move them on.

How do they find each other? Do they make a sound or release some sort of smell to tell other ladybirds to come and hang out with them?

I'm scared of spiders and id take a spider over a cluster of ladybird. Im feeling all itchy after seeing that. We counted 9 outside our living room window so dread to think what else could be out there. 1st floor flat so can't even go and check!

We always get this, they move on eventually. They tend to huddle together in the corners of doors leading to the outside at our house.

Non natives get hoovered and yes, they can bite, one got me! This will help identify them. https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/coccinellidae/how-recognise-harlequin-ladybird

I’d just gently push/scoop them into a container like a Tupperware and move them to a shed or garage if you have one. I love them but I wouldn’t want them in the cupboard like that, in case of poo/germs/gross secretions of whatever kind!

Yes, they can stink.
I recall a day in a field full of ladybirds (ca.1979, age 10) and a friend and I were collecting them in Tupperware pots (can't remember why!) The smell was something awful, and 44 years later I still shudder at the memory.

I would get rid pronto. I left one once and ended up with a plague of them in my house and it was really stressful! I hate them now.

We got a ladybug infestation from a Christmas Tree one year. It was an absolute pain in the arse to get rid of and included having to remove the carpet because they kept laying eggs in it. "Plague" is the right word.

They're bite-y fuckers under threat, too; and they smell.

Move them somewhere else where they won't be in direct sunlight. They love windowframes, but they don't understand that they'll get cooked under the glass come a sunny day.

They smell of blood.

I'm not entirely keen on them and would move them. Well, DH would.

If harlequin then kill them. If they're native leave or place else where.
Native are smaller and orangy red or yellow have the 'tradition' pattern, harlequin are quite a bit bigger and have more white on the head, they also tend to be all sorts of colours and spots.
From a squint at your photo they look native red based

My daughter would be very jealous! Beautiful little creatures!

OK I’m going to remove them gently with a teaspoon into a small Tupperware container and with the lid slightly off put them in the shed tomorrow.
During the process I will try to establish if they are the evil yet delightfully named Harlequins. If they are I’m not sure what I’ll do. Maybe they’ll get the cheap Tupperware.

Just tip them in the garden as far from the house as possible!

How lovely. My MIL has a Loveliness of every year and has since she moved in twenty odd years ago. We think hers live in the window frame. Hers just let themselves out in the spring but I don’t know what you’d do with ones in a shut cupboard. Drill them a little exit hole?!

Good for you, LongFaulks

Personally, I don't worry about harlequins, it's not their fault that they've been blown over from the continent, as they have been forever.

I remember finding black and white & yellow and black chequered ones in the 70s and showing them to my dad, who explained where they'd come from.

They might be useful if you’re into gardening; they keep the aphids off your roses and beans.