Coccinellidae

[quarryquest]

Norwich Cathedral, here in the East of England has recently planted a herb garden to contain the sort of plants the monks who were part of the original abbey there would use. The local ladybirds have been using the evergreen plants there to hibernate on.







This group seem to be sunbathing

Comments

[weaverbird]

What a cool thing to see! I love how they chose the silvery plant - it makes such a good picture. Thanks for sharing!

[sid]

We call 'em ladybugs in my part of the world. One of the very few insects that don't make me cringe and run away!

And I think they are sunbathing!

[turlough]

So cool! The last photo in particular is really awesome. I love the contrast between the pale leaves (needles? is it rosemary?) and the bright red of the ladybugs.

[quarryquest]

That is lavender.

[turlough]

Of course! I ought to have realised. Rosemary has much longer needles.

[quarryquest]

It's also a lot greener. Sometimes I wonder how lavender manages to photosynthesise with all that lack of clorophyll visible.

[phaseolus]

You can kind of see rosemary in the background in the first two pictures, I think.

[moonvoice]

Beautiful! I love seeing the little ladybirds clumping together like that; and this of course reminds me of the wonderful differences in geography - they don't need to hibernate here in Western Australia, so it's neat to find out they do elsewhere!

[mrs_tribble]

What great photos! I'm hoping that my newly aquired redcurrant bushes will encourage my favourite beetles into the garden this year too :)