Avon Wildlife Safari Day 27 - Go ladybird spotting!

Seven spot ladybird

Another fantastic event run by the Avon Gorge and Downs Project  is 'Ladybird Spotters' on Thursday 15th August. Children will spend the morning searching for lovely ladybirds (there are 46 species now found in the UK) and playing ladybird games. Ladybirds are beetles, which, by definition, means that they have hard forewings that meet centrally, covering their abdomen and biting mouthparts. The most common ladybird in Britain is the 7 spot ladybird and many ladybirds have bright colours to warn off birds and other predators. The red colouring basically means 'don't eat me because I'm not going to taste very nice!.'

The invasion of the Harlequin ladybird is threatening our native species though as they are very effective predators and can disperse rapidly across large areas. There is some great advice on how to tell the difference between a harlequin ladybird and a native ladybird on the Harlequin ladybird survey website. But all ladybirds have a fascinating lifecycle, producing spiky alien looking larvae in the early summer before going on to pupate into adult ladybirds.

http://www.ladybird-survey.org/lifecycle.aspx

So if you're not booked on get yourself booked onto the ladybird spotters event on the Downs by ringing Mandy Leivers on 0117 9030609 or e-mail mleivers@bristolzoo.org.uk.