EVERYWHERE A LADYBIRD - BUMPER INFLUX OF GARDENER-FRIENDLY INSECTS FROM CONTINENT

                                       

Hunting for aphids - ladybird on lettuce leaf

THERE has been a population explosion of ladybirds in North East Lincolnshire.

Since last month, they have been conspicuous everywhere - in gardens, on street pavements and on the sea wall.

Many are thought to have drifted here on easterly winds from the continent.

In the influxes of previous years, 'red tides' have occurred of those that have failed to reach land.

The seven-spot ladybird is the most familiar species in this country through there are 40 other less common species. 

They are popularised in the somewhat sinister old verse: "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children will burn."

This is thought to be a reference to the old practice of burning stubble fields after the cereal or hop crops had been harvested.

Ladybirds are friends to adults because both the adults and their larvae feed voraciously on aphids.

Ladybird trots along a street pavement in Grimsby