Ladybug invasion

I had heard about some sort of ladybug invasion in Denmark and the south of Sweden, but hadn't seen more than the occasional one. So today, when in Malmö, I first just brushed one out of my hair, and then followed the little guy who landed near me with my camera.

I headed out towards the beach at Västra Hamnen (a very nice looking beach), and wondered what all the flying things were. Then it crunched under my feet and I looked down - ladybugs, everywhere there were ladybugs.

Resolutely I marched on, passing drinks that had been abandoned to the bugs. Thick swarms of bugs. I found a nice place to sit behind two nice-looking young men, and had a seat. And realized that I had bugs crawling all over me.

I swatted them away, but then one bit me. Ouch! I didn't realize they bit. It got worse and worse, it appeared that you had to get into the water to escape them, and there was no wading here, it was jump-off-the-pier-into-deep-cold-water. So after about 5 minutes I got up and left, crunching ladybugs as I went. I briefly considered a drink at the bar, but there were swarms of them there, too. Strange that people were still sitting there, trying to enjoy a drink.

At the bus stop I found this nice piece of dropped red pepper - with ladybugs feasting on it. The bus had quite a few as well, as they came in attached to people's clothes. I wasn't until I got out downtown that the ladybugs were gone. For now.