The Ladybird Survey is real science that anyone can take part in. How many have you seen?
Look out for ladybirds
Ladybirds are important to local ecosystems and provide natural pest control to gardeners. But they face threats too.Do One Thing for nature - spend some time looking for ladybirds and join the UK Ladybird Survey run by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).
To take part you need to:
- Keep an eye out for ladybirds or go on a hunt Record observationsIdentify the ladybirdsReport your results
View some of the results so far on the BBC Nature UK blog.
Would you like to watch ladybirds hatch? Join the separate UK Ladybird Parasite Survey.
UK Ladybird Survey
This survey asks you to look for live ladybirds in all sorts of places: not just outside in gardens, parks or woodland but indoors too.
Gang together and search an area intensively or just make notes when you happen to see one.
Record observations
For each ladybird you see, please note down:
Please take a close-up picture as well. For best results, switch off the flash, get close, zoom in and hold the camera steady.
If you see ladybirds together, count how many of each type there are.
Identify the ladybirds
To work out what type a ladybird is, you can download and print sheets to take with you or use the interactive step-by-step Ladybird Spotter application.
Left to right: cream spot, 10-spot, 7-spot, heather, 22-spot, harlequin, 2-spot ladybirds. Scale approximate. Click image to launch interactive Spotter.
