The Secret of Bishy Barnabee

You may be wondering just how Bishy Barnabee got it's name... well, 'Bishy Barnabee' is an old Norfolk name for a ladybird! Some say it's named after a bishop (although quite why a bishop was ever associated with a ladybird isn't clear!).

Here's a little rhyme about it:

"Bishy-bishy-barnabee,
Tell me when your wedding be:
If it be tomorrow day,
Take your wings and fly away."

Ladybirds - or 'ladybugs', as they are called in America - are actually lovely little beetles. There are many different types of ladybird in Britain, with different numbers of spots and different colours. In all, there are 46 different species! - but only 26 of them look like what you and I would think of as a ladybird (the others are rather dull looking beetles).

The scientific name is 'Coccinellidae', which isn't quite so easy to say as 'ladybird' - the common name that we all know seems to have come from early paintings of the Virgin Mary, who was often shown wearing a red coat.