Harlequin ladybird on ox-eye daisy flower

When I get home from work I pop outside to put a little extra food out for the birds, and the local blackbird family have got quite used to it and come down to eat it moments later. Today I noticed a little ladybird resting on one of the newly-opened ox-eye daisy flowers in the back garden while I was feeding the birds, so I dashed inside to grab my camera before the light got too dim! And this is the result.

I love ladybirds and have seen quite a few seven-spots this year, most recently during a trip to Bexhill-on-sea with my Mum when there was quite an aggregation of them basking on a whitewashed concrete wall all along the length of a coastal street. I haven't seen so many all together for a long time. There have also been a few in my garden this Spring, including one that seemed to emerge a little early from hibernation as he appeared first on an unusually mild day in March but then hunkered down in a leaf axil in the same spot on a Matthiola (stock) plant for about the next two weeks before moving on!