So ladybirds are all red with black spots? Not so, say spotters who are scouring the North East for sightings of the creatures.
In just a few months, volunteers have shared more than 1,500 records as part of the North East Ladybird Spot project being run by the Natural History Society of Northumbria. They have recorded 26 species in a dazzling variety of colours and spot variations at what is the halfway stage of the project.
From familiar species such as the seven-spot ladybird and orange ladybird encountered in urban areas to regional rarities such as the cryptic water ladybird, the sightings are revealing a wealth of new information about the distribution and ecology of these colourful insects in the North East. The project has included a special survey of the North East’s cemeteries, which has revealed harlequin and orange ladybirds to be numerous in urban areas and also discovered other species including pine, larch, two-spot and ten-spot ladybirds.
