Its was late in the afternoon when I realised the ladybugs in the garden were acting a bit peculiar. There was lots of flying around and congregating on plants. I wondered if now that their food supply was probably getting low (they have done a spectacular job of clearing the garden plants of black, green, white and other colour flies/ aphids), if they were thinking about
leaving on mass, or was the recent rise in temperatures over the last forty eight hours getting them geared up for procreating because although there has been a large rise in the native seven spot, I haven’t seen any mating or any signs of their larva. In fact only the harlequins and the two spots have been spotted mating in the last month and I have seen larva of the 22 spot and the 14 spot as well.Well my suspicions may be partly right because just as I was thinking
maybe they gathering for a great ‘mate down’ I found a few pairs happy at it.My other theory that they may also be hungry (could be due to the pheromones ‘now these are just my
theories’) was also confirmed when I decided to transfer a couple to my ochre plant in the greenhouse which on inspection I found some red aphids. The first one I transferred literally snatched the fly straight off and well you can see for yourself. The aphids started t
o panic and started to drop off the leaf onto the lower leaves and the pot’s soil, so I answered with more ladybugs who also immediately tucked into the feast that had suddenly materialized.Another sign they maybe getting rather hungry was this scene my daughters happened upon, a 7-spot l
adybug eating a harlequin larva. Oh yes and when one flew on me it bit me, the little bugger!!
There were a few more ladybugs seen:
adybug eating a harlequin larva. Oh yes and when one flew on me it bit me, the little bugger!!There were a few more ladybugs seen:
A very pretty yellow and black 14-spot ( they are normally cream/ white and black).
A ten spot that has not yet got it’s spots totally through as yet. 
And there was also other mini beast like this black beauty, a solomon's seal sawfly. A lone robin also made an appearance, it looks like it might be the garden regular male but in full molt.
Kella I have had a look at your videos, they are very impressive. Your garden is huge and very interesting. It's very productive and very inspiring. Although I love allotment life for it's community spirit, it must be nice to be able to have everything in one place.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely family week-end.
Hi Maureen, thanks for checking out my videos and for your lovely comments.
ReplyDeleteThe garden was a big decider when the house was bought as I knew I craved and needed a large growing space.
But as every gardener knows big is never big enough and now I would love an allotment so I could grow certain crops en mass for storage, etc.
This weekend is forecasted for lovely weather and we are expecting a visit from family from overseas, so we hope to spend a lot of it outdoors. I hope you have a great weekend too and thanks again for visiting my blog :)