So my dads found a Ladybird in the bathroom, awake from hibernation.


He wants to know if theres anything we can do for her, as its a bit too soon for her to wake up from hibernation.....can we keep her in, should we chuck her in the greenhouse where we put ladybirds last year when they started hibernating.....or do we just let her go and hope she finds some food somewhere to keep her going until spring hits.

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Outside in the UK, it's quite normal for ladybirds to briefly "wake up" from hibernation during sunny winter days, move around and then go back to sleep again. Recently during this mild spell, I've found several inside my house, walking across the floor or flying to the window. The best thing to do is to put the ladybird back outside, preferably in a place where it can hibernate again. So the best place to choose is a sheltered bramble bush. If you look under the leaves first, you may be able to see some other ladybirds huddled together - they seem to like to hiberante together, sometimes there'll even be different species of ladybird hibernating together under a leaf.

We've had several ladybirds in our flat for the last few weeks. They are very active all the time. At first, I kept putting them outside, but they keep coming in again. We keep the window open a little all the time for ventilation, and in the morning, there are often 3 or 4 ladybirds just sitting on the edge of the open window. As the day warms up, and especially at night with the lights on, they often fly round the room.
We have been worrying about them not hibernating but not sure what we can do. The more we put outside, the more come back in!

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Bit late now to be taking her outside, so shall hope she stays in place overnight and i'll put her down with the other ladybirds who i made an insect hotel for last year in the greenhouse and hope she settles in!

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