Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
- Your house is on fire and your children are gone
This is the one and only ladybird I have seen in our garden this year. And that was back in May. There may be others but considering the amount of time that I spend in the garden with my nose in the plants you'd think I would spot one or two.
This is not the first year that they have seemed a bit scarce. We went as far as introducing them in the form of nymphs last year. They were carefully put on the currant bushes to get rid of some of the aphids that were deforming the leaves. It was a veritable ladybird banquet....then they disappeared!
Perhaps they lived up to the children's rhyme and simply flew away as soon as they developed into adults.
Come to think of it hover flies and lacewings have been rare as well. And we do plant for wildlife with plenty of flowers (only singles please) in the kitchen garden and the aphids are always there as a ready meal.
However other insects seem to visit the garden in droves. The ceonothus and the astrantias were alive with the hum of bees in the past few days. There are several different kinds bees and their relatives over the past few days. It's hard to believe sometimes that they're n endangered species.
Oddly enough we have lots of Ladybirds and Hoverflies here. Last year we saw few Ladybirds. There must be a reason for the variations but I don't know what it is!
ReplyDeleteStrangly I haven't seen many insects either....not even a lily beetle (although that is not to be missed). Odd. Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteI live across the pond and still say ladybird ... there are somethings that never leave us. I haven't seen any in the garden yet, I'll have to put my telescope eyes on and look closer. Great macro shots today.
ReplyDeleteIs it only in the USA that the term ladybug is used? I visited the Virginia in the nineties and I remember seeing a building (which happened to be pink) covered in lady birds. I had never seen so many. It made a big impression. I'm sad they're so rare in this area. Thanks for the comments about my photos. I'm certainly taking less blurred photos than I used to. Practice makes perfect so they say...
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