Seven-spot Ladybird
Coccinella septempunctata · Beetles
Ladybird on umbellifer
The Cotswolds, 12 June 2025
A seven-spot ladybird working across a hogweed flowerhead in a Cotswold meadow, dozens of tiny flowers within reach without moving more than a few body lengths. It is the commonest ladybird in Britain and Europe, on every hedge and in every garden, and it lives on aphids.
Seven spots, always, on this species, and the red is a warning: a ladybird handled roughly bleeds yellow from its knees, a foul-tasting fluid that puts birds off, and the colour tells them not to bother in the first place. It eats aphids by the thousand, which is why gardeners forgive it everything.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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