Swarms of ladybirds are entering homes with zoologists saying the hot summer is to blame.

Social media users have shared witness accounts of an influx of ladybirds gathering on windowsills and taking shelter inside homes this autumn.

"My parent's house has become a home for ladybirds, they seem to like bathrooms for some reason, it was like a swarm of them, they seem to get in through open doors and windows," one person wrote on X.

Another said on X: "What's with all the ladybirds today, never noticed such a lot around my house before. Hopefully they don't damage anything!"

But experts are urging people not to panic. They say the surge in sightings is simply because the insect is seeking shelter ahead of winter.

"It is now the time of year when they are looking for somewhere to lay low over the winter," Tim Coulson, professor of zoology and head of biology at the University of Oxford, told the Independent.

"A nook in a house would be attractive."

He explained that ladybirds sleep through the winter in what is known as diapause, which is similar to an insect hibernation.

"They slow their metabolism right down to minimise energy use. In the wild they choose places like under bark in a pile of leaves, anywhere providing a bit of shelter and away from things that might eat them," Prof Coulson said.

"Sometimes they might come into houses looking for a safe haven," he added.

Ecologist and ladybird expert Professor Helen Roy, from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, explained each species of the insect have a favoured place to survive through the winter.

"For example, two-spot and harlequin ladybirds enter buildings, seven-spots tuck themselves under leaf litter and water ladybirds nestle into reeds," she told the Independent.

However, there are more of the tiny critters this year as a result of the hot summer, which made it a "good year for their prey, and therefore a good year for them", Prof Coulson said.

The tiny predators eat aphids and because warm weather means more aphids there has been more food for ladybirds.

Dr Peter Brown, associate professor in ecology and conservation at Anglia Ruskin University, said the last "boom year" for ladybirds was during the hot summer of 1976.

"In 1976 there were a lot of seven-spot ladybirds on the beaches as they searched for food, and people thought they were invading - they were not, as they are native to the UK," he said.