Beast of the Month - LADYBIRD

March's Beast of the Month is the LADYBIRD. These familiar little minibeasts are colourful and easy to recognise. You may notice them more and more as we move into spring, especially on those rare sunny days.

Fantastic facts:

Favourite foods: aphids (greenfly)     Enemies: Spiders, some birds, other beetles, wasps

Super powers: flight and their nasty taste!     Size: up to 1cm long

Name: named after the Virgin Mary - 'Our Lady' - who was often painted wearing a red cloak.

But what are these smart little insects and what can they do? Ladybirds are:

Beetles

The shiny, red, spotty little beetles we're so used to seeing are only one stage in the life cycle of the ladybird. Did you know that they spend part of their life looking completely different? Just like butterflies and caterpillars, ladybirds begin life as larvae after hatching out of their egg.

Varied

There are 46 kinds of ladybird in the UK (26 of which actually look like ladybirds). They are all part of the beetle family. This orange one is a cream-spot ladybird, but there are also black ones, yellow ones, some with few spots and some with lots.

You can find out more about the different types and see pictures of them at the UK Ladybird Survey site.

Well protected

You probably already know that brightly coloured animals often use their colours and patterns to warn other animals that they are poisonous or dangerous, just like wasps and bees.

Ladybirds also protect themselves in this way. They taste too bitter for most birds and mammal predators to bother with. Next time you let a ladybird wander across your hand, look closely for the yellow squirt it might leave behind. That's the ladybird's way of persuading you not to eat it!

Being invaded

There's a new kid on the ladybird block - the harlequin ladybird. These non-native ladybirds arrived in the UK in 2004 and have already spread across the most of England and into Wales. Scientists are worried that the new-comers will compete with UK ladybirds and put them at risk.

Harlequins can often be told apart from other ladybirds by the 'M' shape on the back of their head. They also often have brown legs. You can find out more about how to spot thesse invaders and report you sightings at the Harlequin Ladybird Survey site.

Credits: Ladybird larvae (c) Les Binns / Cream spot ladybird (c) Rachel Scopes / Ladybird watching (c) Adam Cormack / Harlequin ladybird (c) Philip Precey