My chum Stan Solomons asked why there are so many ladybirds around at the moment.

Internet research suggested they have come out of hibernation and are in the mating season.

It was also said they like hot weather and that the long hot summer of 1976 caused ladybird plagues.

Colin Liversidge says Dalton gets plenty of ladybirds in the summer. He thinks they’re attracted by the houses.

“A lot of the houses on the estate were insulated about eight years ago,” he said. “Some are a sandy colour or a light yellow. Some are nearly white in colour.

“They were insulated outside because a lot, like mine, were built of concrete shuttering in the early 1950s.

“ Normal insulation could not be put inside the walls so had to be fixed outside and a surface put on to finish off, similar to a paint.

“The surface is light in colour and gets nice and warm and I think this attracts the ladybirds. So far, the neighbours and me have been lucky as we have never had a plague of them.”

A plague of anything can’t be nice but at least ladybirds aren’t locusts. That was a biblical story that can give anyone the shudders. A locust is actually a grasshopper but that doesn’t sound quite so threatening.

But when they swarm it’s not nice. I know because I’ve been in the middle of locust swarms in Uganda. Fortunately, I was in a car with the windows up.

The local Ugandans didn’t mind. They were outside dancing in the road. It was night and the locusts/grasshoppers were attracted to street lights and headlights.

We stopped and watched how the locals combated the plague – they ate them.

They saved them in sheets and blankets to be cooked later but were quite happy to grab one out of the air and munch on it as if it was a Walker’s crisp.

They are, I am told, a delicacy, although I have declined to try them. I’ll stick to crisps.