Ladybirds

Seems out of season
I’ve not seen any around here
I d just wait myself

If your neighbours have the same problem, I don't think it's anything specific to your flat, so I agree, just wait. It is very early but it's been mild, maybe they don't like the continual rain?

They seem to be coming out of hibernation here.

We have had several on the inside windows in recent days and there were quite a few around when I was picking up leaves in the garden.

I catch the indoors ones with a glass and piece of card and put them outside. Otherwise I leave them alone.

We are in Bedfordshire.

They are a friend of the gardener - give them respect☺️

I found one on a seed tray in the polytunnel today. I hope it has plenty of mates and will get rid of the white fly.

Nature does throw up these mysteries from time to time.
They have come in for a warm- one day you'll look for them and they'll be gone.
Not sure you'll get to an answer.

Yes, they're probably coming out of hibernation.

We had several which seemed to hibernate around the edges of windows, perhaps they're waking up and coming indoors.

I think they must live in the walls of the building. Poor things they'll not get out to the garden. I know they can theoretically fly but I don't like to throw them out the window as we're on the 4th floor.

Yes, a little bit of sunshine and they think it's spring.
They will have been hibernating indoors as others have said and are waking up ready to go out.

Brrrr....

Aveline - of course they fly! How do you think they got in?

I've had ladybirds on and off over the last 3 years in only one room in the house, sometimes as many as 9 or 10 at once. I try to slide a piece of paper beneath the ones indoors and deposit them on the outside windowsill.

Aveline

I think they must live in the walls of the building. Poor things they'll not get out to the garden. I know they can theoretically fly but I don't like to throw them out the window as we're on the 4th floor.

It depends on the type of ladybird.

Some, the Harlequin ladybirds, are invaders and our native ones are dying off because they are having to compete for resources. The Harlequins are more likely to be invading our homes.
www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/20/harlequin-ladybirds-declared-uks-fastest-invading-species
Old article but still relevant.

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-harlequin-ladybirds-are-invading-our-homes.html

Yes, a little bit of sunshine and they think it's spring.
They will have been hibernating indoors as others have said and are waking up ready to go out.

You could quite easily be talking about us GNetters NotSpaghetti
Hope we have lots of ladybugs this year!

Aveline , dont worry about throwing them out if the 4 floor window- they will open their wings and take flight. I threw a few out of the back door yesterday and watched them fly away.

It was so warm and sunny today that we had the patio doors wide open. I rescued at least 6 ladybirds and put them outside again. Love ladybirds.

Here in north west Wales we always seen to have ladybirds outside for a lot of the winter. They don’t seem to move much

At one point last week there were at least 100 massed along the top of a sunny window. I quite like ladybirds but that was just too much. I don't like to think of such an infestation of creepy-crawlies in the house. However,when DH came home I called him to show them to him but they'd gone? Into the woodwork somewhere. 😱

My sunny porch has been inundated with them for the past 2 days, probably 20 or 30 at a time so I open the windows and some fly away and the others need a helping hand. I have always loved ladybirds since being a child and have no fear of getting them onto my hands and fingers to put outside
However ny brother who lives with me is scared to touch them as he insists they bite but I've never been bitten - has anyone else? Should I be more careful?

We have them all throughout the winter in our bedroom and en suite both of which are warm on sunny days as they face south. I assume coming from window frames or through from the loft somehow. I looked it up and they are emerging because the temperature is warmer than they usually hibernate in. They need to be put somewhere together and where it is cool but sheltered , so we catch ours and take them to the shed. Otherwise they dehydrate or starve. They are meant to form clumps in dark protected corners together. Perhaps you could catch yours and pop them in your coolest room, by the window frames? But ours just keep coming almost daily there will be between one and four new ones! I hope they survive somehow but it is a worrying sign of the times.

Aveline

For the past few months we seem to have been invaded by ladybirds. They're mostly around the windows and windowsills but also in various other places around the flat. They're no bother but I do wonder if I'm missing something. It's not just us though. Others neighbours were talking about them too. Is there anything I should do or just leave well alone and wait for them to disappear?

I have just read that they start to re-emerge in March and start to immediately mate in March/April, so with a milder temperature, I guess you have your answer.
Not seen any here in my part of Yorkshire yet.

We're in North London and we've had them in our bedrooms. Only one or two at a time, but almost daily.

The south "wing" of our house (not that grand, really!), gets inundated with harlequin ladybirds. The previous owner said that the adjacent sycamore tree was the culprit. That has now been disposed of, so we shall see what happens this year.

Also, the suggestion from somewhere to use citronella incense sticks seemed to work. The ladies don't like them but it does them no harm. They just go elsewhere.

Same here, each sunny day I find a handful in just one of the bedrooms, haven't seen them anywhere else but have never liked them and have sprayed window frame with peppermint oil to no effect also tried spider spray and eucalyptus oil but nothing has worked so far. All ideas welcomed!

Ladybirds used to hibernate in the large sash cavities of our old house, they appeared inside the panes in the autumn and again on the outside of the panes once we had the first warm day.
I wasn't really bothered by them, but on one occasion there were so many that we had to vaccuum them up to clear the window sills as they were falling onto the floor - if any get crushed they smell really nasty.

I’ll look out for mine. I buy ladybird larvae every year to put on my roses & fruit trees. No more greenfly.