Some nonsense about insects.

 It’s another fine sunny morning. According to my next door neighbour we’re going to have a week of good weather. We could certainly do with some dry weather, if only to dry up the mud puddles on the bridle oaths, which are rather like a quagmire in places. According to my various gadgets the temperature is around 10° but to me it still feels colder than that. 

Maybe I’ve not yet re-adjusted to lower temperatures, having grown used to 27° or even 30°+ while we were in Portugal

But the flowers are coming on nicely and there was even a ladybird on one of the plants in the garden this morning. Eva Wiseman was writing about ladybirds in this morning’s paper - as well as her migraine and other things. She maintains that the collective noun for ladybirds is a “loveliness”, which she suspects the ladybirds themselves of having invented. She goes on to speculate about other creatures inventing names for themselves: a “conspiracy of lemurs”, a “bloat of hippos”, a “destruction of wild cats”. All quite plausible in their way. But I went and checked on the “loveliness of ladybirds” and it’s quite true, 

According to one source they are also called “Our Lady’s Beetle, a Name they originally got in the Middle Ages when there was a swarm of aphids gobbling up crops. The source was seemingly written by an American, who insists on calling them “lasybugs”, despite the fact that they are technically beetles! 

“Legend has it that the people prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Millions of coccinellids (ladybugs) flew in, annihilating the aphids and saving the crops. The insects were known as “Our Lady’s beetle,” or bird from then on. 

Once again, in 1880, a nasty pest, the cottony cushion scale, invaded the California citrus groves. Farmers brought in a swarm of ladybugs. They bred and decimated the orchard pests, saving the citrus groves.

The same rescue mission was carried out on the Galapagos Islands about 100 years later, with equal success. 

Ladybugs have also been likened to paintings of the Virgin Mary, where she is seen wearing a red robe or coat.”

Then there’s the idea that ladybirds bring good luck:

“Some people believe that if a ladybug lands on you, it is a sign that good luck will follow. You should count the number of spots to see how many years of luck you will have.

Others say that the number of spots shows how many months will pass before your greatest wish comes true.

Still others believe that the redder the ladybug, the more intense your luck will be. Of course, true love must also go into these predictions.

A ladybug visit can predict the imminent arrival of this new true love. How lovely.”

And here are some “interesting facts” about these little creatures:

• Ladybugs have hidden wings that unfold in a tenth of a second. Once these wings are open, the ladybugs flap them 85 times a second! The colored wings above are just body armor.
• Ladybug larvae look like baby alligators with their black spiny bodies and yellow spots.
• They are not harmful to people, but are not too popular with winemakers. If they get scooped up with the grapes during a harvest, they will be frightened and squirt out a disgusting liquid in self-defense. This gives the wine a foul smell and taste. Anybody for ladybug wine?
• Ladybugs live for about a year. In that time, they can consume up to 5000 aphids.

There you go! I just remember a rhyme we used to chant as children if a ladybird landed on your hand:

Ladybird, ladybird,

Fly away home,

Your house is on fire

And your children are gone.

And then you blew it away. 

Here’s a bit more Wikipedia nonsense: 

“This traditional verse relates to ladybirds, brightly coloured insects commonly viewed as lucky. The English version has been dated to at least 1744, when it appeared in To  y Thumb’s Pretty Songbook Vol. 2.The verse has several popular forms, including:

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,

Your house is on fire and your children are gone,

All except one, and her name is Ann,

And she hid under the baking pan.

A shorter, grimmer version concludes:

Your house is on fire,

Your children shall burn!

The child who hides may also be named Nan, Anne and Little Anne and she has hidden under a "warming pan", "porridge pan", "frying pan" or even a "pudding pan".[2] Alternatively, her name may be Aileen and her hiding place a "soup tureen".[3] A widely varying Peterboroough version makes the remaining child a boy:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, / Your horse is on foot, your children are gone;

All but one, and that's little John, / And he lies under the grindle stone.”

There you go. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!