I thought things were getting intense when I brought the chilli plants and tomatoes into the bedroom to ripen but when bugs got there too I knew something serious was going on!
These ladybirds (US ladybugs) might be Harlequin ladybirds, a recent introduction here and one which is spreading fast.
I didn't see many in the garden this year (and I didn't see much aphid activity either - connected?) and I'm wondering why they are colonising indoors?
Can't tell by pic if they're Harlequin ladybirds-suggest you do as I did and send one off to the survey mentioned on the Harlequin website asap
Posted by: Jean | October 27, 2007 at 07:15 PM
Can't tell by pic if they're Harlequin ladybirds-suggest you do as I did and send one off to the survey mentioned on the Harlequin website asap
Posted by: Jean | October 27, 2007 at 07:16 PM
It seems to me that the bugs should be expected to move indoors. If they don't have the strength and inclination to fly South, they are likely to have the impulse to seek out locally warm locations when temperatures get cold, this impulse preceding even any contact with human habitation.
Posted by: DWPittelli | October 29, 2007 at 02:35 AM
John, the ladybugs/birds here in Pennsylvania start looking for places to overwinter when it starts getting cold, in older houses that often means they find a crack and it isn't uncommon to find hundreds of them in a room.
Posted by: steven | November 04, 2007 at 03:20 PM