Clematis and Ladybirds

The clematis buds among last years dead looking twigs herald hope for the Spring.

Among the husks of leaves and the pom-pom seeds are clusters of Ladybirds like bright jewels, hibernating from the winter’s cold.

(Bearsy:Edited to stop those links, I think!)

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Author: Sarah

No time to lose. No, time to lose. Make time to stand and stare.... Did you see that?

12 thoughts on “Clematis and Ladybirds”

  5. You could, with profit, collect some of those ladybirds in an open box and put them in the shed to preserve them. Extra cold now will have a bad killing effect.
    Mine lurk in the house in the grooves of the windows, I leave them to it, every now and again one wakes up and zooms around much to the irritation of the dogs. I used to vacuum them out but am getting soft in my old age and generally prefer the wild life to the neighbours that one is not allowed to ‘vacuum up’!
    Nice pics.

  6. Hello Pseu

    Lovely pics (as always)

    We don’t have ladybirds here. I have of course heard of them and seen them elsewhere but you made made me dig a bit deeper (Wiki here) and I’ve concluded that yours are the common 7 spotters! It appears that they go up to 24 spotters!

    Have you seen the UK national survey?

  8. Fearful of ‘sucking eggs’ syndrome- BUT
    These are our native ladybirds that are of no detriment to homes. They are not the voracious killing harlequin ladybirds (from Asia of course!) that kill ours, eat everything and leave noxious smells and deposits in our houses(!!!)
    As such they should be preserved as much as possible, please give them a helping hand like most of the creatures indigenous to Britain, they need it.

  9. Christia, I like the idea of putting them in a box in the shed…. presumably I should leave them in their chosen leaf or seed head and put it all in an old shoe box in the shed?

  10. Yes. and check regularly when it begins to warm up, leave the door open for them to emerge.
    Don’t pile up too much material, give them room to crawl out of the heap.

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