January ladybird

[goosey]

I bought a wooden trough today for the garden and put it outside. Twenty minutes later when I looked out the window there was a 7spot lady bird walking over it. I presume it had been ovewintering in one of the gaps and I had disturbed it. I moved the trough to a more shelterd spot and tucked the bit nearest the ladybird under some lavender incase it would rather go there. Its only 6 degrees today, but the warmest day for weeks, will the ladybird survive now it has woken or will it find somewhere to sleep? What are it's chances?

[paul m]

Pretty good chance I should think - unless it goes away from shelter and gets caught in a deep frost. It's not uncommon for ladybirds to awken at this time of year, adjus their positions and then go back to sleep. I think it's to do with the increased daylength, perhaps with the sunlight at a different angle from when they went to sleep in late Autumn? It's not so much the ambient temperature that revives them but radiant warmth - they are very efficient at absorbing heat from the sun's rays.

Originally Posted by goosey

I bought a wooden trough today for the garden and put it outside. Twenty minutes later when I looked out the window there was a 7spot lady bird walking over it. I presume it had been ovewintering in one of the gaps and I had disturbed it. I moved the trough to a more shelterd spot and tucked the bit nearest the ladybird under some lavender incase it would rather go there. Its only 6 degrees today, but the warmest day for weeks, will the ladybird survive now it has woken or will it find somewhere to sleep? What are it's chances?