On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine

Jesmond Old Cemetery is the best place in Newcastle to see overwintering ladybirds.  There is a single Scots pine within the cemetery and the gravestones around it are usually the best place to look.  Ladybirds have probably been discouraged from coming out of hibernation by the recent weather but should soon be getting on with the business of mating and egg-laying before dying and leaving the next generation to replace them.  After a cold, wet, gloomy March, today felt like the first day of spring so I decided to take one last look this morning.

There were still plenty of ladybirds on gravestones but I was looking for two species  in particular. I made straight for the pine tree and after checking the gravestones I decided to look in the tips of the lowest branches which were just within reach.  And there I found what I had hoped to find, a Cream-streaked Ladybird.  Its scientific name is Harmonia quadripunctata but in fact it has 16 spots and it is a real beauty.

And then I found another, well camouflaged in the pine buds.

And another.

And a fourth.  This one has larger and darker markings and is also well camouflaged.

When I first checked the back of the gravestone under the tree I was delighted to find my other target, an 18-spot Ladybird, Myrrha octodecimguttata.

Then I found one in the tree as well.

Other ladybirds I found in the tree were, appropriately enough, a Pine Ladybird, Exoxchomus quadripustulatus,

and two Harlequin Ladybirds, Harmonia axyridis.

After all this excitement I looked back to the gravestone and the first 18-spot Ladybird was on the move, no doubt realising it was time to get on with life.

Nearby a similar-looking species, a Cream-spot Ladybird (Calvia quattuordecimguttata), was moving around as well.

And a week ago, after a tip-off from James Common, our local expert, I found another ladybird new to me, a Kidney-spot Ladybird (Chilocorus renipustulatus), this one on an ash tree only a couple of miles from here.

Since getting interested in ladybirds in January I have seen 19 species.  With practice I am gradually learning to identify them but there are plenty more to see and learn.

* For those of you too young to remember, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Is a song first recorded in 1913 and which became a hit single for Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy in 1975.  You can watch them singing it here.