There are more than 40 different kinds of ladybird in the UK, in a range of colours from yellow to black, though most are red with black spots. The most common are the two-spot and seven-spot ladybirds.
Ladybirds are actually beetles, and can eat up to 75 greenfly a day each, so gardeners love them. Their larvae look completely different and eat even more greenfly each – look out for them!
In the Old Pond Garden we have found that our plants don’t really get damaged by greenfly, because the ladybirds – and lots of other creatures we encourage – eat them all.
Sometimes you might find ladybirds hibernating in the corner of a window in your home, like this:
Find all the Bugs in the Old Pond Garden (there are ten altogether), put the letters together and find the final Bug!
If you spot any real live bugs / creatures / insects in the Old Pond Garden today, try to take a photograph and find out what it is. We’d love to see it, so if you post on Instagram you can tag us: @cabahs_hortisoc and use the hashtag #BugsInTheBeds
This page is part of the ‘Bugs in the Beds’ trail running on the Old Pond Garden, Charlton House, on 21st May 2023.
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 