Born-and-bred West Coaster Patrick McBride hopes a surprise influx of ladybirds is a good luck sign for his region.
Patrick McBride, manager of the Regent Theatre, Greymouth Photo: LinkedIn
Two weeks ago McBride and his family moved to Moana (a tiny town inland of Greymouth) only to discover they're living amongst hundreds of ladybirds.
These ladybirds are orangey-coloured and the size of Patrick's pinky fingernail, he says. (They've since been confirmed as the Harlequin variety).
Patrick says he can see 70 dead ladybirds on his deck at any one time and there are usually about a dozen inside.
He wonders if he's done something to lure the tiny beetles in.
"We did get the house spider-sprayed on the outside when we moved in here so whether that's attracting them in and then all of a sudden they're dying off from the spider spray, I'm not sure. Maybe there's a scent on it."
Photo: Skylar Ewing / Pexels
It's been a rough decade for the West Coast, says Patrick - a local councillor who runs Greymouth's Regent Cinema with his wife Jacinda.
'We've been in struggle street for some time now. Pike River, follow that up with the Canterbury Earthquake. we're pretty close to Canterbury and a lot of our business is done via there."
Greymouth is a real service town that relies on the fishing, gold, timber, dairy and coal industries, Patrick says, and the local motels are "still ticking along fairly well" thanks to visiting workers, Patrick says.
Thankfully, the local movie theatre is still ticking along, too.
"Top Gun: Maverick [is on] in a couple of weeks, that'll be huge. Downtown Abbey is performing really well. We're going alright but it's not the days we had three years ago. It's certainly put a nail in us."
In the town of Greymouth, there are now dozens of closed-down shops and currently, 26 consent applications for buildings to be demolished, Patrick says.
"I don't want to paint a bad picture. It's a great place to live and a great place to bring up your family… but it's certainly not the town that it was.
"Hopefully, these ladybugs are gonna bring us some luck, eh?"
Harlequin ladybirds were first found in Auckland in 2016. They are invasive and classified as a pest in New Zealand.
