Millions of ladybirds invade Romanian town

A wing and a nightmare: Residents have resorted to sweeping the bugs up with brooms

This creepy footage of a plague of ladybirds swarming through a town is guaranteed to make your skin crawl.

Millions of the winged insects settled on the town of Lipova, in western Romania, overnight.

Residents have had to seal up their homes to stop swarms of the bugs taking them over.

And despite attempts by town hall officials to control the invasion with pesticides, the determined bugs - members of the beetle family - keep coming in waves.

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The influx of the creepy-crawlies has left locals scratching their heads - and their skin - but experts have put it down to a rise in the number of ladybird food, greenflies.

Baffled local Arina Deca, 50, said: "No matter what you do they keep coming.

"I had my window open for a few minutes and when I closed it they were like a living carpet.

"I swept up tens of thousands of them with a broom and shovel and took them outside but more and more arrive all the time.

"We're not scared of them because they're harmless but it is just very creepy."

Mayor Mircea Jichici, 57, said: "We've had very warm weather, about 20 to 22 degrees which must have something to do with it.

Swarming: The ladybirds have made their way into people's homes

"We've tried pesticides but we don't have enough to make an impact."

Biologist Mihai Pascu, 44, says the swarm has been triggered by a sudden rise in the number of aphids, or greenfly, the favourite food of ladybirds.

He explained: "The rains led to the increase of aphids and this in turn led to a sharp rise in the numbers of ladybirds. They are just feasting while it lasts.

"If we will have a mild winter, their numbers could be even larger next year."