Ladybird Alert ~ Harlequins in Suffolk

Harlequin succinea

We saw two large Ladybirds on the edge of the River Lark, near West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, in Suffolk last Saturday.

Sadly both the black-on-orange spotted one (succinea above) and the orange-on-black spotted one (spectabilis in bottom three photos) are Harlequins, members of the Harmonia axyridis species. Their size was something of an initial give-away. You can see the Harlequin colour range here.

I shall be logging both these insects on the UK Ladybird Survey site here.

Do keep an eye out for Ladybirds. I am not alone in finding far fewer this year than last. You will find a Ladybird post here in the Cabinet of Curiosities blog, by Phil Gates, columnist for The Guardian Country Diary feature.

Harlequin spectabilis

Odonata: Banded Demoiselles

We had fun watching about twenty of these eye-catching insects as they flitted about along the River Lark in rural Suffolk. I have never seen so many at once. The ones in the photos are males. The female of the species looks (in my opinion) more like the usual damselfly.