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My interest in ladybirds has grown considerably over the last couple of years. As well as being able to tell a two-spot from a seven-spot, I can now comfortably identify less well-known species such as the 14-spot and 10-spot, along with the many

After last week's excitement about the ladybird party on the BBC allotment, I was delighted to learn that the UK Ladybird Survey had a stand at this year’s Gardeners' World Live.There’s always a few wildlife charities at the show and each year I

.Every year at Gardeners’ World Live I see the ladybird poppy (Papaver commutatum), and wish I had it. I never see it at any flower shows or public gardens, or even growing in people’s own gardens – but there it is, without fail flowering its socks off

, as there were two or three ladybird couples mating on the plants, I chose to let nature take its course and let the blackfly be (ladybird larvae have a voracious appetite for aphids). This week I popped down and found so many ladybirds that I worried there weren

ready for the council to come and collect. On some of the leaves were ladybird pupae, while spiders spun new webs in the wreckage. There may also have been chrysalises of the holly blue butterfly, whose caterpillars feed on ivy in summer. They

to make the bee hotel, without bamboo, sunflower and teasel stems. I think the combination of branches, twigs and chopped trunk will make a varied insect habitat – one which I hope will be used by leafcutter bees to breed in as well as providing ladybirds

, but hates the shade of my current plot.A crab apple, in the hope that I can cultivate mistletoe on it.A large patch of nettles, for butterflies and ladybirds.Hawthorn, for its spring blossom, hedging potential and autumn berries. The fruits not only feed