I think ladybirds (or as my Nan called them in the her American vernacular – ladybugs) were the very first family of insects I learned to identify as a child. Perhaps bees or ants might have been ever-so-slightly earlier, but ladybirds were close behind them if so. Of course, at that young age I assumed that all ladybirds were alike, having no idea of the variation to be found throughout the world among the Family Coccinellidae – or that there was such a thing as the Coccinellidae, or taxonomic families, or taxonomy for that matter.
Times have changed. I’ve grown much, much older, much more stout, and much more aware of the bewilderingly extensive variety of life that fills every nook and cranny of this much-abused planet upon which we all live. However up until I happened upon the news of publication by Pelagic Publishing of Helen Boyce’s A Field Guide to Harlequins and Other Common Ladybirds of Britain and Ireland as the most recent addition to their Pelagic Identification Guides series, I hadn’t given a great amount of thought to learning to sort out even the most common amongst the various ladybird species one might encounter.
Now, however, after perusing this new and very easy-to-follow guidebook, I am finding my awareness of the common species to be found in Great Britain and Ireland to be greatly expanded, and my competence in identifying them notably increased. I look forward to putting my newly acquired “ladybirding” skills to the test when next afield upon the Scepter’d, or Emerald (as my travels may lead me) Isles.
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