Seven joys and seven sorrows.

Apparently, it is because of early paintings of the Virgin Mary, who was depicted wearing a red cloak with black spots, that the ladybird got it's name. In English, it was called the Our Lady Bug and in Germany it's name translates as the Mary Beetle.

In other parts of the UK, you may hear this little insect referred to as a Golden-Bug, a Bishop-Barnaby, bishy bishy Barnaby and a lady-cow. The Turkish translation is a luck-bug, which I like the sound of.

I am a little thrilled to post this blip today, as this is the very first ladybird I have seen ALL YEAR. I was beginning to think this area had become a ladybird-free zone, and I suppose this is the only one, so it may well still be! This one seemed to have just crawled from a little splodge of sand on the rear bumper of my car, so maybe it had been dropped by a passing seagull?