Ladybirds, ladybirds fly away home....

Now I don't usually leave my garden baskets up throughout winter but this year I had a good reason for it. When I was taking them down to compost the dead plants and give them a wash out I found a crowd of ladybirds hibernating underneath, yes really, they were all huddled together keeping warm.
I was amazed by this because I'd always thought that they just died off after laying eggs and then new ones were born in the spring.



Here's the first group:


and here's the second group:

I thought they might have gone by now but they're still there so I've put the baskets back up even though they are unsightly; ladybirds are too precious to let die as they do such a good job in my garden :o)