Beautiful Pest

I need to get rid of these colourful visitors. Death will come via a small paintbrush loaded with white spirit. I don't mind doing it this way because a chemical spray will kill beneficial insects. The Scarlet Lily Beetle is very destructive to lilies and fritillaries. It is about 8 - 10 mm long and is a native of Eurasia. Lily beetles came into the UK on imported lilies at the start of the 1900's. Now they are commonly found in the South East of England, but are spreading all over the UK. The adult lily beetles feed on the flowers, leaves and stems of the lily, spends the winter in sheltered places in the garden - not necessarily near lilies. They come out of hibernation in late March - May then from late April -September they feed on the lilies and lay eggs on the underneath of leaves of lily plants. The eggs take about a week to hatch - producing beetle larvae which feed on lily foliage. The lily beetle larvae are fully grown in about 2 weeks - they then pupate in the ground and in 2 -3 weeks emerge as adult lily beetles.