Ladybird, ladybird...

If there's something green, sucking leaves and wood, who you gonna call? Well aside from lacewing larvae, parasitic wasps, rove beetles and predatory midges, you might want to call a ladybird. And ask it to bring some friends, says nature watcher 

- Jack Edmonds

Ladybirds are well known to gardeners as the number one organic means of aphid control. Our most common ladybird, the seven-spot, can eat around 5000 aphids in its short life. But our relationship with ladybirds begins long before we have any conception of biological control or beneficial predators. Ladybirds are among some of the first creatures we encounter as children; whether on the cover of our first Ladybird book or out in the garden, ladybirds are instantly recognisable. Or are they? Ladybirds are, in fact, highly variable; beyond the usual red and black lies a spectrum of colours and patterns; some are yellow and black, some are cream and brown, some have 24 spots, some have none, some are fairly hairy and some are really very hairy. What's more, the famous fact you were told about them as a child - that you can tell how old a ladybird is by counting the number of spots it has - is complete bunk. Ladybirds live for up to a year, sometimes less, so if you are ageing your ladybirds this way, you will almost always be wrong. Thanks, Dad.

DAZZLING DIVERSITY

Counting spots won't help you to age a ladybird; nor, often, will it help you to identify it. Of the 46 species of ladybird in the UK, 26 of these are classed as 'conspicuous' ladybirds. These are the ladybirds we commonly recognise as such, and included with these are the species we often encounter in gardens. You can identify ladybirds by looking at the colour of the elytra, or wing case, the colour of their legs and undercarriage, the shape and colour of their spots and their general size.