Ladybirds

I don't get many ladybirds. I think I've seen three or four 7-spots and one 15-spot this year.



But back in July I was in for a surprise. I found 10 of these ugly looking things on the silver birch.

The are larvae of the Harlequin Ladybird, the much hated foreign invader. I was lucky enough to see this one shedding its skin as the pupa emerged.

A pupa that has darkened.

This one has not long emerged from its pupal stage.

They don't look like ours do they?

I moved one to the nasturtiums that were being destroyed by blackfly. Unfortunately they were too few too late.

Other insects

The first non-plant living thing I took a photo of in my garden was this Seven Spot Ladybird on a recently planted Hornbeam. It stayed around a few days but I haven't seen another one all year.

I saw these lovely looking caterpillars on my Silver Birch. When approached they arched their backs. I did a search on the internet and found out that they were in fact Sawfly Larvae and they can strip a young tree. I wasn't taking any chances, I don't know how long they'd been there but one branch was almost stripped bare. I put them on the bird table but nothing wanted them. Seems that when they arch their backs they also give off a foul smell.

A Hoverfly

Another type of Hoverfly

A Brown Hawker Dragonfly. It spent ages flying around as I vainly tried to take a photo, but then it settled on the hedge long enough.