One of our most popular beetles, it's name was derived from a religious connotation to Our Lady-The Virgin Mary.

It is a predator and eats aphids and other plant pests; which makes it even more popular with gardeners and farmers. World wide there are 5,000 species, with only 46 in this country. However there are only 25 of those that we would recognise as a ladybird.

They are very habitat specific so you would have to know where to search to find these different types. Most of us will know the 7-spot ladybird which is our most common type. The larva of these also eat aphids. The larvae pass through 4 development stages called instars during a 3-6 week period and then pupate for just over a week. It will then emerge yellow and unpatterned.

It takes a couple of hours for the colour to appear. We all need to be on the look out for the Harlequin Ladybird now though. This is a voracious predator brought into Europe for pest control but is now out of control itself. It eats ladybird eggs as well as butterfly and moth eggs, and it out competes our indigenous species.

Barbara Mark