Things in Unusual Places #20: Ladybirds

Ladybird larva crawling on a laptop screen
Apologies if this photo is sending your eyes a bit squiffy! 

Last week saw an unexpected and special group of visitors in our house. As you can see, I found a ladybird larva crawling across my laptop whilst I was in my study.

There were four in total, including one NAH found on my hair, plus a couple more I found on the Flowers for Mum bouquet I shared with you last week. I suspect that was the source of all of these most welcome visitors.

I was concerned when I spotted the first one, because it was quite small and there didn't seem to be any food available. However, the next day it had happily doubled in size and I saw there were a few aphids clambering around the lemon balm and ox-eye daisies.

A day later all the aphids had gone and I discovered my first ladybird had a companion. Both were transferred outside to my 'Kew Gardens' rose to continue with their good work, as were the others I found later that day.

First I found an earthworm, then the snail, then last year a cricket graced unexpected places in my house. What's the most unusual garden creature you've found at home?

Update: NAH has just found another one upstairs and there are loads in the garden. It looks like it's going to be a good year for ladybirds.

Comments

  1. Sue Garrett12 June 2017 at 11:42

    Watch out for my Wordless Wednesday post this week. We also found two on the bin lid yesterday which were transported up the garden onto a rose that had a few aphids that the birds had missed.. One was quite small but the other was definitely a Harlequin as was the star of my Wordless Wednesday post. Most of the larvae I find seem to be Harlequins.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP12 June 2017 at 12:10

    I'll look out for that Sue. So far this year our ladybirds are the good old 7 spot, though I'm braced for spotting harlequins again. I spotted lots of black fly in the garden this morning so hopefully they'll go for these when they do appear - I'm holding onto the fact that harlequins prefer the bad guys such as aphids over nibbling on the good guys.

    ReplyDelete
  3. liza12 June 2017 at 12:33

    nice post

    ReplyDelete
  4. The bike shed12 June 2017 at 20:54

    Fascinating little things are ladybirds - some interesting and different species in France; sometimes wonder how they'd do over here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP14 June 2017 at 10:27

      Ooh that's interesting. Bearing in mind the Harlequin is an alien one and out competing our natives, best not to try your French ones!

      Delete
  5. Sheena13 June 2017 at 07:44

    I once came across a frog in the toilet which was a bit unexpected especially as the toilet is upstairs. Eventually worked out it had hitched a ride in the washing basket and, very cleverly, found the nearest source of moisture in an alien environment.
    Lucky you to have so many ladybirds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP14 June 2017 at 10:29

      Crikey that must have been quite a surprise Sheena. I jump quite a bit when I find them in the garden!

      Delete
  6. Mark and Gaz13 June 2017 at 10:33

    They look rather sinister at that stage but when they change they look so cool (and endearing).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP14 June 2017 at 10:31

      Th enumber of times I see people posting pictures of the larvae convinced they've found a horrible new pest invading their garden! They're one of my favourite creatures... though I'm not quite sure what to do if these are Harlequins. I've reported a confirmed sighting in my garden, but what now... squish or let them get on with hoovering up all the blackfly. I'm convinced there's enough for all the different ladybirds I've found in my garden...

      Delete
  7. Anonymous28 June 2017 at 08:16

    I once found a moorhen bobbing in the downstairs loo. I think the cat had brought it in and then lost it.

    ReplyDelete

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