You might have heard about the ladybird invasion of 1976. In Part 1 of this special 2-part episode, I talk about what happened in that famous year and talk about possible scientific explanations of what might have happened, as well as the impact on the society and community.  Podcast recommendation this week is Ungagged! Please check out our film club discussion here: http://leftungagged.org/2021/06/28/film-club-pride-2014/  Sources:  Newspaper articles from the Mirror, the Birkenhead News, the Sun and other local and national newspapers, kindly uploaded by Christian Jensen Romer.  https://www.countryfile.com/countryfile/great-drought-of-1976-what-happened-and-what-was-the-impact-on-britain/  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/may/17/water.ethicalliving  https://www.lep.co.uk/news/do-you-remember-ladybird-plague-1976-why-britains-latest-heatwave-hasnt-caused-another-plague-45908  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35603972  https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/219043/re-ladybird-swarm-1976.html  https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/ladybird-invasion-swarms-uk-population-explosion-season-181142  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0006320778900022 https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2017/research/1976-drought-butterflies-moths/#:~:text=Scientists%20at%20the%20University%20of,swarming%20in%20search%20of%20food.  http://lostladybug.org/file_uploads/WashupEntAmericana.pdf  https://eje.cz/pdfs/eje/1993/04/04.pdf - Ivo Hodek's study https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0082278  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dan-Minchin/publication/274475587_A_swarm_of_the_seven-spot_ladybird_Coccinella_septempunctata_Coleoptera_Coccinellidae_carried_on_a_cruise_ship/links/595caa7eaca272f3c08f510e/A-swarm-of-the-seven-spot-ladybird-Coccinella-septempunctata-Coleoptera-Coccinellidae-carried-on-a-cruise-ship.pdf - Hibernating 7-spots on a Moroccan cruise ship :)  http://la.climatologie.free.fr/secheresse/drought-heat_wave1.htm - Drought in France https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/les-coccinelles-envahissent-le-littoral-larmor-plage-27639 https