Unusual ladybirds?

well the peony looks nice anyway.

I have had quite a few of the black ladybirds in my garden too...Not keen on them myself as I more used to the red ones....

Oh no, it looks like the dreaded American invader which kills our native ones and then don't get rid of the aphids like our's do. I wonder whether anyone else thinks so.

Hope not Mad, bad enough the bees on decline, poor things

All the ladybirds I have seen until last few days have been red with small black spots. Maybe this survey ,that is said to be underway, will reveal more about what is going on in our gardens; the same as the bird one helps to assess how birds are coping.

I've never seen any of those. I wonder if they are killing the proper ones away.

I think they are mating Hywel, and crossing with one another, and causing all sorts of differences in appearance and habits

Yes I know they are mating lol. But I just wondered if the black ones killed the red ones. I've never seen those black ones before, and I don't know if they are the same species.

I've seen the strangest lady bird ever, its orange pretty longish it has tiny yellow spots on it, it flew in my bathroom window the other evening, ive tried to photograph it but does'nt seem to good, its a bit blurry. i looked it up (like you do) its called a "halyzia_sedecimguttata" I will put photo on here,,it has 16 spots ,,,

Black ladybirds have now disapeared. I looked at a website with Bill Oddie taking a walk with a ladybird expert. The black one is the Pine ladybird. The orange one is found in UK too. So it looks like the Pine Ladybird just dropped in for a flying visit, and found a friendly welcome on my apple trees.

Hello Dorjac, I love your photo's, i've seen several orange ladies but have never seen black ones before; i do hope they only kill aphids. Kiki

A lot of lady birds in the garden this year. Only a short visit by these shy black ones, then they vanished. The rest of this year the ladybirds looked like we are used to seeing them. Funny thing in the garden early today. Spooky the street cat stalking a squirrel, pounced on his tail. Up the hawthorn they both went together but the squirrel won. A few minutes later they were at it again!! Got up early to go to Ally Pally Antique Fair and get back in time to go with GJ to N Weald airfield PM. Good entertainment all round.

must have taken a lot of time, patience and manoeuvering to get those pics! thanks for sharing.

Funnily enough Fran I havn't seen one odd coloured ladybird this year in the garden, although there have been lots all over the place for weeks on end. Just trying to psyche myself into going into the garden and potting up more stuff.

lol you and me boith! shall we make a deal? "I will if you will"

Didn't go in the garden after all Fran. Left over weariness from last Thursday and lack of sleep really affects me a lot. Got it all to do again this Thursday.

it was chucking down here, so I had a good excuse. Your Thursdays sound wild!

Huge amount of rain last night, but didn't hear it falling, so must have slept well. Butts full again. Fox asleep on the roof of the Gazebo.....couldn't think of what else to do with the left overs from the crispy duck....hope he liked it. Next door away, so must remove remaining bone before they return!!I get accused of feeding foxes, as if I love them to bits, I don't,but they are good at cleaning up.

lol that fox will be expecting a wine waiter next!!!

i have just moved into a property which was very close to a coal mine and was once used to house miners The garden was a total jungle and have been clearing it. i am a total amateur gardener but im learning all the time and finding it rather addictive! while clearing a"gone wild" lavender bush which was growing against the back wall ifound a strange coloured ladybird all i can think of to describe it is like a puddle of black engine oil when the sun shines on it creating a rainbow effect, the pics i took werent very good but it was really quite pretty. can anyone explain what it was please.

Sounds like a lavender beetle Sweetxxx. They are very pretty. They do look very shiny blue and purple, but lavender growers don't like them at all. I saw one recently on my old lavender bush but no worries as it is so pretty....let it continue to glitter and look pretty.

so long as they don't take over a space and force the native speices out! often happens iwth mew species introdouced by accident or design -- grey squirrels are a classic expample!

I tried Googling for "lavender beetle" so see where they originated, but all I found were links for "rosemary bettle" - which has a totally different colour scheme.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Science/Plant-pests/Rosemary-beetle
has nothing at all on "lavender beetle" when I searched its own site
http://www.theguidetogaygardening.com/?tag=lavender-beetle
(could'nt resist the address of this one! - this is listed as "lavender beetle" but looks nothing like the one in the pics)

So I tried searching for "black ladybirds" and found a BBC site wtith various kinds of ladybird colour schemes. might he helpful
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14043356

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/invading-cannibal-ladybirds-take-over-britains-homes-6287000.html