Ladybird, ladybird............

One of the delights of childhood used to be the wonder of the existence of Ladybirds, which turned up in the garden dressed in a variety of colours and designs - black, yellow, red, orange, blue, big dots, small dots, no dots, matt-finish or highly glossy.

There are supposedly about 500 kinds of Ladybird in Australia.

When was the last time you saw a one?
Like cicadas they appear to have largely gone missing from our urban life.

Courtesy of the Australian Botanic Gardens some ladybird facts can be found here.

Also here is a CSIRO webpage if you want to find out more about these little winged gems.