Photographer Tomasz Skoczen has spent years watching ladybugs in his Irish garden. His macro lens shots of ladybugs glistening with rain or dew are enchanting. Skoczen observes that ladybugs are very fast and therefore, difficult to shoot.

Ladybugs are AOC favorites and represent good luck in many cultures around the world. Perhaps because they eat aphids and create no destruction themselves, ladybugs were welcomed in early agricultural cultures.

Ladybugs reproduce sexually, copulating as long as two hours. Female bodybugs can store male sperm for 2-3 months before laying eggs in a place where food is abundant. If they congregate in one’s house during the winter months, ladybugs should be shapred. Killing them is associated with bag luck.

Even Mother Nature helps ladybugs to stay alive. Birds and other predators know that the bright colors of ladybugs indicate a very foul taste, just like monarch butterflies are a bad meal. Unlike much of the animal kingdom, the larger of two ladybugs is probably the female.