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The inaugural meeting of the Ivydale Primary School Natural History Club had its first show-and-tell session on Wednesday. The first ladybird of the year had made an appearance.It was crawling about in the back bedroom of one of the children and she

We are being invaded. I had not seen many harlequin ladybirds in my garden this year, but a few weeks ago I noticed that the larvae were climbing over the hedge from next door, in droves. This south-facing fence is covered with ivy and a

isn't very old, it's not more than 20cm in diameter at the base, but the bark is rough and gnarled enough to provide the odd nook and cranny for overwintering ladybirds.Surprisingly, these are not the recent alien invader Harmonia axyridis

. It is Clitostethus arcuatus, Britain's smallest, and perhaps rarest, ladybird. Of course, not being of the large, spotted, variety, it is not really counted as a true ladybird, and is not included in any of the online ladybird surveys. But it is a closely related

I've always been rather sceptical about the benefits of bug boxes, ladybird and lacewing hotels and other artificial constructions marketed to improve the roosting conditions for helpful insects in the garden. I was once given a solar-powered insect

on the broad leaves, Fallopia is more or less sterile when it comes to wildlife. But this may be about to change. I notice that there are rumours of importing a small but pretty Japanese insect, the psyllid bug Aphalara idatori, to try and control the knotweed

with sunbathing beasts: shieldbugs, spiders, ladybirds, bees, and two cats nestled in at the bottom. The newts have returned to the pond too; four of them were swimming about in there. These are the regular denizens of my garden, but two unusual visitors were a

are sprouting and they are adrift with aphids - I shall look forward to the attentions of hoverflies and ladybirds soon. A single specimen of the rose leafhopper Edwardsiana rosae tried to play hide and seek by sidling around to the other side of a leaf

’ve been writing this, a long-tailed tit just bobbed into that same apple tree, and a fox just popped through the gap in the fence and trotted up the muddy lawn. I’ve seen the first insect too — a harlequin ladybird. Normal service has been resumed.

I got up out of my sick bed to post this, I hope you know. Our brief dusting of snow may have gone, but it was too grim and grey to go exploring in the garden after hibernating ladybirds or flat-backed millipedes. Instead, I ventured upstairs