Although this is often reported to be a common species I was unable to find it in my recording area until 2020. I realised that this was due to my area consisting of gardens, brown field sites and semi-natural grassland on clay soils.

The trick to finding this species is to search grasslands on chalk or sandy soils, including downland, sand dunes and coastal grassland. Mark Hows regually finds this species in The Brecks.

When I finally found some in the Lee Valley, they were in a small patch of habitat that also contained Red-rumped and Red-patched Ladybirds. They were in a dried up damp flush in an area of dry sparse grassland on a sandy soil. I had previously overlooked this area as unpromising.