{"id":2797,"date":"2016-10-28T11:16:27","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T11:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2016-10-28T11:17:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T11:17:21","slug":"a-spooky-sign-of-autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?p=2797","title":{"rendered":"A spooky sign of autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The changing and breathtaking colours of some of our magnificent trees, together with flocks of visiting birds on their long migration journeys, and a bounty of fruits and seeds for them to feed on are proof that autumn has arrived. However, thanks to Pauline, on the 27 October we were witness to a less obvious clue if not, indeed, a very spooky sign of the season. \u00a0We met along the disused railway, now a fantastic public walkway, starting behind the Co-op stores on Leeds Road, Outwood. There, on the timber post and rail fencing we found hundreds of \u2018<em>Halloween ladybirds<\/em>\u2019 as they are known in the USA, because they gather in their overwintering areas during September to November before hibernating, often in buildings. \u00a0Such large gatherings of insects are known as aggregations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here in the UK this beetle is known as the harlequin ladybird (<em>Harmonia spp<\/em>) and is an unwelcome invader. \u00a0The adult is very variable in appearance with a range of colours and patterns (see photos).\u00a0 Unlike many of our native ladybirds it produces multiple generations and a single female may lay up to 2,000 eggs in a lifetime leading to large populations.\u00a0 The life cycle then proceeds to a larvae (see attached photo), which can shed their skins several times before forming a pupae, and then after several days the adult emerges. \u00a0The larvae and adults feast on aphids and when these have been devoured they sadly eat and out-compete our native, treasured ladybirds, bringing a ghostly end to autumn.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2798\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?attachment_id=2798\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2798\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2798\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2798\" src=\"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2103.4.harlequin-ladybird-larvae.jpg\" alt=\"harlequin ladybird larvae\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2103.4.harlequin-ladybird-larvae.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2103.4.harlequin-ladybird-larvae-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2103.4.harlequin-ladybird-larvae-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2798\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">harlequin ladybird larvae<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_2799\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?attachment_id=2799\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2799\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2799\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2799 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2108.4.harlequin-ladybird-adult.jpg\" alt=\"harlequin ladybird adult\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2108.4.harlequin-ladybird-adult.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2108.4.harlequin-ladybird-adult-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCF2108.4.harlequin-ladybird-adult-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2799\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">harlequin ladybird adult<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The changing and breathtaking colours of some of our magnificent trees, together with flocks of visiting birds on their long migration journeys, and a bounty of fruits and seeds for them to feed on are proof that autumn has arrived. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?p=2797\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,18],"tags":[311,308,309,312,310,57],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2801,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions\/2801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}