The enemy wear red

First truly warm day this April here.   Enter the first Lily Beetles of the year.  Lovely bright bugs but they spell death to Lilies and related plants like this Fritillaria.  They feed voraciously on the leaves and stems, breeding too which produces grubs with a similar appetite who live in their own excrement attached to the plants.  Yuck!

The end was swift and hopefully painless.

A heavy admin day was unavoidable.  Good, if slow progress.  I baled out mid-afternoon and cleaned out the greenhouse before heading off to the allotment to plant garlic.   After cutting the  grass tonight i retired to the summerhouse to blip.  Almost dark now, I have the cat for company, seemingly happy to just sit and watch the blackbirds around the garden.