OOOh !! Harlequins

[sumbody]

Got an email today - and yes they are Harlequins !!! (see Ladybird Visitors post)

"Thank you very much for your email and ladybird photo, which you have correctly identified as harlequins.  This is a valuable record for our survey.  We encourage providing winter shelter for ladybirds and other insects - and will just have to hope that your pole attracts other species and not just harlequins (you could always remove the harlequins...)  They use chemical attractants to attract others to the same site for over-wintering, so you may get more, as they like to gather together in large aggregations (as do some native ladybird species).

For information, you may like to know that we now have confirmed records of the harlequin from London, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Devon, Derbyshire and the Isle of Wight, with single individuals being found in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Dorset.

If you would like to download a colour ladybird identification sheet, please click on the link at this website page
http://www.ladybird-survey.org/UKladybirds/UKladybirds.htm

Thanks again and please keep looking for harlequins."

Doesnt say what I am supposed to do with them once I have removed them - (one missing today - only 3) - I suppose just put them out the window sill to fend for themselves - even though they are bad, I dont think I could kill them (hubby's all for hoovering them up !!!) - what do you think ???.

[sumbody]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Squash them. Otherwise they'll just go somewhere else and breed next year.

[redimp]

Sorry to have been the alerter of a potential nasty but at least you now know that your native ladybirds should be a little bit safer next year.

[Rosa_Mundi]

Well, they will be if the harlequins get squashed - not sure that was going to be done, though?

[sumbody]

No - Rosa - I can assure you they are now squashed - (although I will admit I didnt do it myself )

I will keep an eye out for more too - if I can can kill a weevil and its larvae (well I feed them to the Robins ! ) - I can kill a Harlequin ladybird.

I am glad I photographed them though - even though it meant hanging off the top of the ladder with over 10ft ceilings - (not a pretty sight !!!) - glad I posted too - and thanks Redclanger for identifying them

And finally, nothing to do with wildlife - I will post this bit again elsewhere, I have read that if you post pictures you need to donate to the site.  Is this still the case ?? - is there a going rate ??  I didnt realise until after I posted pics.  Sorry if I breached anything .....


Monica

[redimp]

You haven't breached anything - it is how you post pictures that changes when you pay Dan the recommended £10 per year.  I still haven't paid and come January time I will have been using the site for a year.  Still in the middle of sorting out dire finances at the moment though.