Harlequin Ladybird
Ladybird laying eggs on a young nasturtium leaf. When the eggs hatch the emergent larvae are voracious feeders on aphids - which are also drawn to nasturtiums in order to feed on their sap
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This looks like a non-native Harlequin ladybird. Bad news as they eat native, smaller, ladybirds. I’ve found them in my garden for the first time this year 😦
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Hi Liz,
Unfortunately, you’re absolutely right 😦 When I first spotted the ladybird I posted its photo on http://www.ispot.org.uk/ for identification and all the experts say it is a Harlequin ! Hopefully, our native ladybirds wont go the way of our native red squirrel’s – when non-native greys were introduced. Given that Harlequins not only compete with our ladybirds for food though, but are ALSO on the menu themselves, it doesn’t look to promising for our native species at the moment. 😦
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