7 Spot Ladybird

Not the first I've seen this year but the first I've blipped.  There are actually quite a few milling around on the new leaves of plants that attract aphids. My garden looks as though I don't care at this time of the year.  I don't tidy up in the autumn and even less burn the old flower stalks.  Each stalk is home to some creature and this one has been hiding in the old stems of the fennel.  

There's nothing particularly special about a 7 Spot Ladybird, other than their voracious appetite for aphids and the fact that these little bugs will migrate over the channel in huge numbers to spend summer in Britain. They are the most common species of Ladybird in Europe.  In the UK there are fears that the Harlequin Ladybirds, introduced from Asia and whose season is much longer, may out compete these little creatures for food. On the other hand, in North America where they were introduced as a biological control,  it's the 7 Spot that is now taking over from native species.