Spotting

Oh, also! I made a mission for UK invasive species, this would be a really good addition to that! You can check it out and join here: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8049...

Hi Melissa, how big was this ladybird? If it was big (i.e. more than 5mm long), then it is most likely a harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis. This looks like the spectabilis variant http://www.harlequin-survey.org/images/l... I saw you had another harlequin ladybird spotting, you might want to get in touch with the Harlequin Ladybird Survey, as these are quite invasive species. They welcome any recordings, you can do it online here: http://www.harlequin-survey.org/recordin... It will be good for them to know! They are quite aggressive and eat aphids very voraciously (leaving none for our native species), and can also end up eating the larvae and pupae of other insects!