Harlequin Ladybird Introduced Species
I find myself thinking a lot this week about introduced species. When I say 'introduced' species, I mean non-native ones intentionally or unintentially introduced into an area by people. I think this topic is on my mind due to the number of harlequin ladybirds ( Harmonia axyridis ) I'm finding in my garden this autumn. This species was purposefully introduced to mainland Europe from Asia as biological pest control. It was released in France in 1982 for this purpose. I took all the photos above over the past couple weeks in my back garden among the raspberry patch mostly. I wanted to capture the amazing variety of colour variations within this one species. These little insects are largely welcomed in my garden as they keep down the aphid population, but they are a species I simultaneously look upon with a degree of unease. This is because they are viewed by many as not just an introduced species but also a vilified invasive one on our shores. It was first recorded in...