A Cheeky Moment

My first thought as I was gardening and saw this brilliant scarlet red beetle was,'Great..brilliant..a blip' and rushed to grab the camera. However kneeling on the lawn and on closer inspection I was pretty horrified!

This is a Lily beetle and will eat through leaves, stems, buds and flowers mainly of lilies... hence the name. Having overwintered in the soil they have come out this spring to pester me! They are fast fliers and hide very well and in searching for the original beetle came across two having a cheeky moment in the flowerbed! Bonking beetles for blip! This shot was actually taken a lot later when the sun had disappeared - they seem to have been making an afternoon of it!

Having decided my exposure was a bit dodgy initially; they had black faces which the sun was reflecting off, I thought I would have another shot at them. Under the same blade of grass which I turned over, was the male guarding, when you looked exceptionally closely, three minuscule larvae in lumps of sticky brown frass which you can see in the link. On top of the grass stem was his partner you can just see her tiny feet to the right of him - only the claws hanging onto the edge.

Fascinating but I fear they are in for a short life unfortunately, now I've read about the destruction they cause!

Sorry to the people who have commented but I've swapped the images over.