It may not be a lily beetle

Although I am convinced that the creatures mating on my fritillaries are lily beetles, you do need to be careful as there are other red beetles around at the moment that look similar.

I was lucky to spot a Cardinal Beetle on the footpath walk to the local shops.

Black headed Cardinal Beetle .. Pyrochroa coccinea

Lily Beetle .. Lilioceris lilii

There are two common Cardinal Beetles, the Red-headed Pyrochroa serraticornis and the less widespread Black-headed Pyrochroa coccinea which is still considered common here in the South East of England.

I was pretty sure this creature wasn't a lily beetle but I began to doubt myself when I looked back at the photos so I'm grateful to Ian Beavis (https://twitter.com/iancbeavis) for the confirmation. "The Cardinal Beetle is much bigger (at least a couple of mm!) and the wing case is more of a matt red rather than ladybird red." You can see them from April to June when they lay eggs in and around area of dead bark usually on  fallen trees (exactly where I found this Black-headed Cardinal Beetle!) and the adults  feed on other flying insects while the larvae predate on other insect larvae.

Talking of ladybirds, I must confess that I hadn't thought of them as being beetles. So that led to an internet search for other Red Beetles and up popped the Common Red Soldier Beetle - Rhagonycha fulva. I remember these as "Bloodsuckers" (although there's no evidence of them sucking any human blood). They are thinner than Cardinals and appear much later in the year, feeding on other insects visiting the flower they are resting on as well as eating nectar and pollen. This photo was taken last July on the same footpath.

Common Red Soldier Beetle - Rhagonycha fulva

The path forms part of a short circular walk around the village with this section know as Little Switzerland due to the tobogganing slope beyond the woods.

I'm finding it quite difficult to walk the first part of this route at the moment because the landowner stripped and burnt the scrub either side of the path earlier this year and I can only imaging how many thousands of overwintering insects have now disappeared, not to mention the nesting habitats and food for the birds.

This was one of the factors that has encouraged me to speak out more through my drawings and this blog.

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