14 spots

Fourteen-spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

Right now, our garden is crawling with ladybirds. Most are the ubiquitous Seven-spot Ladybirds, but every now and then we find something different – like this one. This small beetle is a Fourteen-spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata). Though it's black and yellow like the Twentytwo-spot Ladybird, it has distinctively square spots, which sometimes merge to form a checked pattern. The bold colours warn potential predators that they'll get a nasty-tasting, bitter mouthful. It's a small insect, measuring only 4-5 mm (less than 1/4-inch) in length. Despite that, it's a fierce predator, both as a larva and as an adult, gobbling up aphids as fast as it can find them. It also eats other small insects, as well as the eggs of various beetles, moths and butterflies. It's the most common black and yellow ladybird in the UK, and is widespread in England and Wales (less so in Scotland and Northern Ireland) in grassland, woodland and gardens. Elsewhere, it's found across Europe, North Africa and most of Asia, as far north as the Arctic Circle. We're just starting to see them now, months after we spotted our first Seven-spots. That's because this species has a much longer hibernation period (smart cookies!), only emerging in May to breed. Females lay some 400 eggs in batches of up to 15. These hatch within 12 days, and the larvae quickly develop after that. Adults are typically seen from May to August – a much shorter time than Seven-spots. By September, they're into hibernation, ready to snooze away the winter.