Happy New Year, everyone!

Since I bought the book Micro ladybirds of Britain and Ireland: A guide to the smaller species of Coccinellidae (Maria Justamond and David W. Williams, Field Studies Council, 2025) earlier this year, I’ve been hoping to find one of the species listed within its enticing pages. And, on 7 December, I finally did.

I can’t take any credit for actively searching for and finding this little ladybird; my only credit is for realising how great a location my local park railings are after wet and windy weather, which is when I find a diverse range of tiny insects sitting on and tootling along on top of them.

This adorable little creature is my first Arboreal ladybird (Rhyzobius chrysomeloides), a tiny insect between 2.5mm and 3.5mm long, reddish brown in colour with distinctive brown markings on the elytra (wing cases), and usually found on a variety of trees (pines, cypresses), shrubs (Pyracantha, Viburnum, Euonymus) and ivy. It can be confused with another Rhyzobius species, the Meadow ladybird, but I am fortunate to follow and be followed by both the authors of the Micro ladybirds book, so was able to get almost immediate confirmation of my find.