Ladybirds
Ladybirds are beetles of the order Coleoptera. They have biting mouth parts and colourful hard wing cases. In Britain there are 46 coccinellid species, with 26 species recognisable as ladybirds.
Ladybirds are regarded as beneficial to the garden as they eat a lot of insects that damage plants, such as aphids, scale insects and thrips. Some ladybirds feed on mildew (sixteen-spot, twenty-two spot and orange varieties) and two species feed on plants (twenty-four spot and bryony varieties)
