"Charles wrote in message ...
Your new friend may be the Scarlet lily beetle Charles, you'll find more
info and a pic here http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0500/beetle.asp
hope this helps


Don't just pick them off, tap them hard on the head with your boot! :-)

If they have laid eggs then the larvae will look like bird droppings as they
cover themselves with their own faeces. These are just as destructive as the
parents. At least, being so colourful, the adults are easier to see.
If you let them eat the leaves off your plants you may well loose them and
you certainly will if they do the same next year. In our garden I found
they loved Madonna Lilies such that I couldn't keep the leaves on them and
they all eventually died out.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.