Has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of ladybirds, my runners beans are being eaten alive!!

hi yes, they do seem very scarce this year, but you can help to encourage them to the garden/allotment by cultivating a patch of nettles , The nettle aphid ,not a garden pest, are a favourite food of ladybirds & you can also buy kits now to 'house' ladybirds over winter.
If you grow nettles allready try to keep them in a sunny spot & cut them back in summer to encourage the ladybirds to move onto your other plants,
You can also plant herbs round your runner beans which help repel the blackfly, they don't like garlic, summer savoury, to name a couple,
I use a concoction of half washing up liquid to half water to spray the blackfly and do it every other day, as it won't harm any ladybirds.
hope this helps, but you prob know all this anyway