Lacewings are extraordinary insects: beautiful and delicate, small and overlooked — but also fierce and hungry predators. You might not even need to go outside to find them, as they often come into homes on summer evenings and sit like a decoration on the walls.
They are harmless to humans and loved by gardeners for the ability of their larvae to polish off so many aphids, scale insects and other pests. This makes them a safe alternative to pesticides, consuming around 200 insects a week. When they come of age, the adults develop a more refined taste, preferring nectar and honeydew alongside the odd creepy crawly.
Their mating rituals are quite amusing: both adults play the drums to attract the other, percussing the leaves they sit on to send songs through the foliage.
We have 18 species of green lacewing in the UK and 29 brown. The green are the most striking, with bright bodies and light, translucent wings. Their antennae are long and their eyes bulging.
The most likely species you’ll find is the Common Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea, which wears a variety of shades of green through the summer, turning brown with red dots in the winter. In the colder months, they are the only UK species of lacewing to hibernate, scuttling into leaf litter or coming into homes and sheds to try to survive until spring.
Some of the brown species are subtly beautiful, like Micromus variegatus, a sort of piebald lacewing which has darker brown patches on its light brown wings.
I feel excited whenever I find a lacewing, of course, but it’s hard not to feel a little sad too. Like all insects they’ve declined dramatically in numbers in recent years and while I used to see them all the time as a child, decorating my bedroom wall, now seeing one feels like more of an event. All the more reason not to use pesticides in the garden, relying instead on the delicately greedy lacewing to do the job naturally.
Have you spotted any lacewings recently? Let us know in the comments below.
