Seven Spot Ladybird.

When we visit Kat we don't head for home until the afternoon.  Having bought plants yesterday she needed to get them into the allotment, so of course we went along as well.  One job I tackled was putting the "scaff" net over the brassicas.  Not as easy as it sounds.

As the netting was being weighted down I spotted this Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) wandering its way up the net.  The 7-spot is the commonest of the UKs  40 odd species.  However only a little over half have the classic spot pattern.

Sadly our native species are under threat from the Harlequin Ladybird (also known as the Asian Ladybird).  This larger species has been introduced to many parts of the world since the 1980s.  The idea is they control aphids.  They arrived here in 2004 probably accidentally from the continent.  They are so voracious that they out compete our native species.  Not only that but in 10 years they colonised the same area it took Grey Squirrels 100 years to colonise.