Earlier today I went to open my front door to find a ladybird sitting on the door handle, although this wasn't like any ladybird I had seen before, it was black with red spots. Are these very common? Like I said, I haven't seen this kind before, what are they called?

There are many species of ladybirds, and many of them are black coloured. Did you manage to count how many spots it has?

I didn't manage to count the spots unfortunately, is that the only defining feature of ladybirds? thanks for clearing that up though!

I remember a while back they were asking people to look for black ladybirds in the UK because there seemed to be so many of them - this was years ago. I'm not sure what you were meant to do if you found them, but it shows they are more common than you might imagine.

I don't remember that! But thanks for the info. Perhaps I'm just not looking for them hard enough.

I vaguely remember that campaign, but I don't think I ever saw one.