On holiday last month I couldn't resist also looking for ladybirds. Wicken Fen has a lot of grassy meadows as well as wetlands so that seemed a promising place to search. 16-spot Ladybird is a grassland species in the south and was one I was keen to find. Unlike most ladybirds it feeds on pollen, nectar and fungi.
14-spot Ladybird is pretty widespread and is found in a variety of habitats. This one is quite pale, probably newly emerged.
We do find 24-spot Ladybirds in the North East but only in a few localised places. In East Anglia I found them everywhere I looked and in large numbers. This is another vegetarian, feeding on grass and red campion leaves.
The 22-spot Ladybird is another vegetarian. This one feeds on mildew on umbellifers but is found in grassland.
All these, plus 7-spot Ladybird and Harlequin Ladybird turned up in one session in one small patch of grassland. A couple of days later I went to Cranwich Heath in West Norfolk which is sandy acid heath. I was hoping to find an Ant-nest Ladybird but did find an Angle-spot Ladybird, Scymnus frontalis. This is another microladybird, not found here in the North East. There were lots of 16-spot and 24-spot Ladybirds as well.
There are plenty more I have yet to find, mostly microladybirds and monthly in the south. I'll have to arrange another holiday to see if I can find some.










Great read. Thsanks
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