Ladybird, Ladybird. The double agents of the insect world, ladybirds are not necessarily what they seem. These beautiful and much-loved beetles, patterned in red or yellow and black, appear in any number of guises in nursery rhyme books and toy shops. But at the same time the real thing is stalking our gardens in the role of the terminator, with the aphid as its chosen prey. Every ladybird means thousands fewer of these hungry pests for the gardener to worry about
(though it does have cousins in other countries who prefer a vegetarian diet). From the day it hatches as a bizarre, leggy grub to the moment it spreads those familiar, spotted wings this beetle, like all animals, must tackle the rigorous task of survival. Narrated by David Attenborough.
Producer Pelham Aldrich-Blake