Harlequin Ladybird (not)

The Harelquin Ladybird is an invasive alien species that arrived in the UK a few years ago. It's of particular concern because it is highly competitive with native species for prey (e.g aphids) and is also known to regard native ladybird species as prey so will consume them directly. I first saw this species in our garden in 2006. By 2007 the numbers were up and last year we were inundated. I didn't make systematic counts, but there must easily have been 100 larvae at any one time. It seemed that the Harlequin had taken over our garden. This year though... I've seen 1 or 2 and no more and they were only adults, i haven't seen any larvae, not as yet anyway. Not only that but there are plenty of 7 spots around, and I've seen orange, 10 spot and 22 spot. So what's happened? Is it just our garden, or is this more widespread? And why? The only reason I can think of is maybe the cold weather over the winter - did that kill 'em all off? Maybe something else is eating them. I don't know. Anybody else seen this? Or are they just as common as last year?

Moth trap 59

Another very average catch today, nothing new. Perhaps the presence of 3 Marbled Green the most notable.

Large yellow Underwing 4

Riband Wave 1

Bee Moth 1

Common Wainscot 1

Dark Arches 4

Dot Moth 2

Common Rustic 4

Least carpet 1

Shuttle-shaped Dart 2

Varied Coronet 2

Marbled Green 3

Moth Totals

Total species 100 (97 in garden)

Total Moths 1081

Some decent insects in the garden today....

Volucella inanis - another cracking member of the genus Volucella

Common Darter, there was also a much larger dragonfly around, maybe a Hawker, but it never came lower than about 20 feet above my head!

Common Blue - Only the second time I've seen this species in the garden

Holly Blue - this one, on the other hand, are very common around these parts

Moth trap 58

Back to more normal service with a total of 14 moths this morning, although no new macros. There were quite a few non-de-script micros that I didn't photograph.

Marbled Green 1

Cabbage Moth 1

Dot Moth 1

large Yellow Underwing 1

Dark Arches 2

Heart and Dart 1

Shuttle-shaped dart 1

Pale Mottled Willow 1

Buff Ermine 1

Silver Y 1

Endotricha flammealis 1

Small Magpie 1

Mother of Pearl 1

Moth Totals

Total species 100 (97 in garden)

Total Moths 1056

Moth trap 57

A very low catch this morning, just 5 moths in total

Dot Moth 1

Buff Ermine 2

Large Yellow Underwing 1

Dark Arches 1

In addition 1 butterfly, a Painted lady - I'm assuming one of the progeny from the huge influx earlier in the year. It looked very fresh.

Moth Totals

Total species 100 (97 in garden)

Total Moths 1042

Moth Trap 56

A modest catch this morning, but one new species for this list taking me to 100 species.... assuming I've counted correctly. Probably need to do a check on what I've seen.

Large Yellow Underwing 5

Cabbage Moth 1

Lesser Broad-bordered yellow underwing 1

Small magpie 1

Silver Y 2

Shuttle-shaped dart 1

Riband Wave 1

Dun Bar 3

orange micro 1

Lime-speck Pug 1

Sycamore 1 (new !)

Bright-line Brown-eye 1

Emmelina Monodactyla 1

Phlyctaenia coronata 1

Pammene aurita 1

Sycamore

Moth Totals

Total species 100 (97 in garden)

Total Moths 1037

Moth Trap 55

A very reduced catch this morning. I found the trap on it's side, with the lid half off. As a consequence only 4 moths found - although a couple of good ones including 1 new for me. I'm assuming it was the wind, could've been a cat though..

Dun Bar 1

Marbled Green 1

Common Pug 1

Emmelina monodactyla (new !)

Emmelina monodactyla - very common, but still a first for me. Given that they feed on Bindweed, I'm surprised there aren't a lot more in my garden

Moth Totals

Total species 99 (96 in garden)

Total Moths 1015