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Posted By: BMW Joe Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Mar 2008 11:31pm
I've heard stories about a Ladybird Swarm at New Brighton a few decades ago.

Just wondered if anyone had any information, pictures or stories/memories of their own?
Posted By: placidmaster Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Mar 2008 11:39pm
this any use about half way down

http://sixmillionsteps.com/TimeCapsule1976-07.htm
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Mar 2008 11:45pm
Never heard anything sorry joe.
Posted By: jonno40 Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Mar 2008 8:58am
I remember the lady bird swarm well.If my memory serves me right it was just before lunch and the whole sky went black and next thing you know everything was crawling with black and red bugs.

I remember running in to the house screaming.I also remember that they had to shut New Brighton baths for a couple of days to clean the pool due to the lady birds.

Also either that year or the next we suffered a flying ant storm as well but iT was nowhere near the scale of the ladybirds
Posted By: philmch Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 12th Mar 2008 12:27pm
I remember it quite well. I was a teenager at the time. There were photos of people shovelling up ladybirds on the prom at New Brighton.

If you go into The Magazine pub (Magazine Lane), there are cartoons on the wall depicting it.
Posted By: Colgo Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 12th Mar 2008 12:36pm
I remember it.It was around 76 but can't be certain,they were knee deep on Hoylake prom by the old baths and had to be shoveled away.They clogged up car radiators and even brakes had to be blown out with airlines.
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 12th Mar 2008 5:12pm
WOW omg
Posted By: philymop Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 29th Mar 2008 10:00pm
I know this thread started a couple of weeks ago but I've only just found it.

I went to a shop on King St Wallasey and there was a block of ice cream melting on the floor outside. Someone had dropped it. by the time I came out (couple of mins) it was a heaving black mound of lady birds. I ran home with my hand over my mouth because there were so many I thought I was going to swallow them. I remember my mum picking them out of my hair. Two kids on bikes were riding round in circles holding tabletennis bats out, swating ladybirds. They had ladybirds all over the bats and up their arms. The cars on Harrison Drive had to pull over because there was no way you could see out of the windscreen to drive!
Posted By: BMW Joe Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 29th Mar 2008 10:35pm
wow, thanks for that.

Shame there are no pictures frown
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 29th Mar 2008 11:13pm
It just reminds me of those killer bee Movies...

Would have been amazing to see.

Maybe a one for looking up in the archives?
Posted By: MerseyMan Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 5th Apr 2008 9:22am
There was actual video footage of the walls covered in a red mass on one of the videos posted on this forum a while ago. Someone had posted a series of photos of nostalgic wirral and on one of those videos was a fews seconds of films showing the road looking like it was painted red as well as the sea walls. The video must be a good few pages back now I think.
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 5th Apr 2008 10:02am
Ive just looked at The Tower Tribute - Not on there.
A Remminisance - Not on there either.

think
Posted By: Snodvan Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 5th Apr 2008 6:29pm
The ladybirds are HERE

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=169019#Post169019

In part 4 about 60% of the way though

I remember the event well. My daughters thought it was great fun

Snod
Posted By: MattLFC Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 5th Apr 2008 6:32pm
Oh aye, nice find smile
Posted By: MerseyMan Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 6th Apr 2008 12:09am
told ya so! wink
Posted By: MattLFC Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 6th Apr 2008 12:12am
Yep I just noticed heh! Some good footage on there smile
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 6th Apr 2008 9:19am
Great spot happy

6min 30sec you will see the run up to the Swarm.

Part 4 Click Me






Description: Its a Image from the Video, Dont click play..
Attached picture wirralhistory100.jpg
Posted By: DavidB Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 13th Apr 2008 10:40am
^ I clicked on it, and it didn't work! raftl

It was before my time, but 1976 was the hottest summer on record (as opposed to this year - the wettest, coldest, winteryest, sh*ttest summer on record).
Posted By: Sludge Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 7th May 2008 9:43pm
Remember it well , the school gates were caked in them , we used to crush them i still remember the smell know , they smelt like garden peas devil mad hey, got a crackin tan that year . Bikinis everywhere thumbsup
Posted By: Mark Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 8th May 2008 6:55am
Cheers sludge,
adds a new dimension to the swarm, however i never in a million
years would have thought that they smelled of peas lol.

wink
Posted By: Sludge Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 8th May 2008 7:37pm
I sh-t you not , "Garden Peas" they were everywhere . love the vids of wirral , i remember oakenelden gardens getting blown up my dad took us down to watch it , ill send the link to my old fella , he was a bus driver in the late 60,70,s hell remember how Birkenhead used to look, he will love to watch those vids
Posted By: jonah Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 14th Aug 2008 9:33am
my nan has just been telling me, she said that she remembers this well, she used to wirk on outside market it was either wed fri or sat..sheworked on fabric stall (abakahns) and the rolls of materical were coverd
Posted By: Wench Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 14th Aug 2008 11:34am
I remember it well. I was 7, my Mum was pregnant with my brother. We were walking home from school (yes, we walked to and from school in those days) the walls were covered in them! I dread to think how many we killed walking home, but we had no choice as they were on the walls, pavements and roads.
Posted By: oxtonmac Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 14th Aug 2008 9:58pm
remember it well, was over at harrison drive with a few mates .
We used to jump off the sea wall,into the river but that year it was moving!!!
with billions of ladybirds
Posted By: Historybook Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 20th Dec 2008 6:19pm
I well remember the ladybirds, we had a sports day at school and i had to keep brushing them off my arms and legs ect, it's one of those things i had totaly forgoten about !.
Posted By: phalinmegob Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 26th Dec 2008 11:54am
i also remember them from a school sports day from devonshire park primary, we were in a field at the bottom of woodchurch lane and we were choking on them while doing a three legged race.got called off in the end.
Posted By: cookie Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 29th Jan 2009 8:30pm
I can remember these we lived in New Ferry then and had a tin bath that we filled with water to drown them in.We also bottled them too ! Mind you i was only 7.
Posted By: uptoncx Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 29th Jan 2009 8:55pm
This is the picture from the Birkenhead News in July 1976 of a hammer outlined under the mass of seething insects:

[Linked Image]

The report accompanying the picture says

"Freak swarms of ladybirds caused alarm in Birkenhead this week. The ladybirds, which are normally regarded as an atractive insect and the gardeners friend, took on a new menacing identity as they swarmed, locust fashion, over the town in a thick, moving mass of red"



Posted By: uggla Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 7th Feb 2009 11:53am
I remember this very well i was nearly 4 at the time my fave toy at the time was a lady bug car i could sit in so it seemed pretty cool with all these ladybirds.

As i was young i thought this was normal for a summer
Posted By: daveymoff Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2009 4:14pm
It was insane. I was 6 at the time and lived in Leasowe but can still remember them in my paddling pool. Thousands of them. I also recall a daddy long legs swarm in the same year. One evening our kitchen ceiling was covered in them. Biblical plagues are not what they used to be. :o)
Posted By: Roslynmuse Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Feb 2010 12:18am
I was in Parkgate at the time so they must have infested the whole of the Wirral!
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Feb 2010 12:57am
Originally Posted by Roslynmuse
I was in Parkgate at the time so they must have infested the whole of the Wirral!
It wasn't just the Wirral, it was most of England, see HERE last paragraph.
Posted By: MattLFC Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Feb 2010 1:21am
Imagine that, tonnes of dead ladybirds everywhere, eewww! Poor sods!
Posted By: Capt_America Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Feb 2010 8:53pm
We had ladybird stew and ladybirds on toast for weeks.
Posted By: abcdefgh Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 10th Feb 2010 9:03pm
Yep, I remember those ladybirds! They were millions of them all over the walls on the prom, you couldnt even open your mouth without one going in....... blush I was 11 at the time and me and my Mum were sitting in the car agog.
Posted By: Tatey Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 6:45am
me and my Mum were sitting in the car agog.[/quote]

Hope the windows were shut!
Posted By: ahbaldy Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 8:48am
I remember being in New Brighton baths at the time and the water was just a carpet of Ladybirds. Here's a picture of a few of them on the prom.

Attached picture Ladybirds1976.jpg
Posted By: BandyCoot Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 11:20am
They were over in Lincolnshire as well, a bit crunchy walking around.
Posted By: RUDEBOX Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 11:50am
What caused it? Most bizarre.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 11:58am
Probably the heat and breeding conditions were right, i was on nights at Lairds at the time and remember having to shovel them off the job, they were all banked up against the bulwark on the ship. Bulwark is an extended ships side.
Posted By: RUDEBOX Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 12:08pm
Whoah! I cant remember it myself- i was 4- going to ask me mum where we were etc. However, i can remember the heatwave-same year?
Posted By: chris7777 Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 11th Feb 2010 7:34pm
oh i remember that, everywere turned red, i was pregnant with my son that year, it was so hot too!!
Posted By: jabber_Ish Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 15th Feb 2010 9:59pm
i remember it cos i was in heswall childrens hospital for 7 weeks on traction....the little buggers were everywhere in the wards

anyone remember the boat they had in the grounds for the kids to play on ?
Posted By: Greenwood Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 7th Jul 2011 2:45pm
That was a really dry summer - the first summer I was overseas, so I missed the whole swarm phenomenon completely. Am VERY glad I did - my parents lived in Wallasey at the time, and said it was virtually impossible to move around without squashing some of the little beasts. That would have squicked me out completely. That year for the Wirral Show, the Wallasey Ladybirds charity group dressed up as - yes, you've guessed it, ladybirds...
Posted By: rocks Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 7th Jul 2011 3:45pm
i remember being down new brighton and they had people with buckets and shovels to shovel them up!
Posted By: Maisie Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 7th Jul 2011 3:50pm
I remember being in the back of my dad's car with my brother. I was 9 I think, and they were flying in through the windows...And dad shouting close the "b****y" windows quick...hehe. That was on the way to Moreton, we turned rround and went to West Kirby instead. There wasn't that many there. I just saw loads of people running up from the beach with their towels screaming....Sounds funny now, but it was scary!!
Posted By: bigpete Re: Ladybird Swarm (1976?) - 3rd Sep 2013 12:24pm
Originally Posted by RUDEBOX
What caused it? Most bizarre.


Caused by a glut of greenfly aphids the previous year (the cheif food item for ladybirds, bless 'em), the ladybird breeding pattern changed due to that glut - such that next year - 76 - their were far more ladybirds as there was expected to be far more aphids - but in the event there wasn't..

I remember Derby Pool covered in them.

After a while they got pretty cranky with little or no food and were known to bite - which they do not do normally...
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