Ragwort

[I love digging]

Ragwort on the allotment - leave it for the cinnabar moth caterpillars which are very prolific - or pull it up?

[I love digging]

[ancellsfarmer]

See the byelaws /rules of your local authority & this may be of interest:
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/enforcement/injuriousweeds.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L88tdKtM1XE

[galina]

Have just found a cinnabar caterpillar on the potatoes!?  Next to a rose bush.  Having recently seen and identified the day flying moth "butterfly" which is so unusual and red, it is obviously here to stay.  Never seen any before.   

[ancellsfarmer]

Is it eating the potato foliage, or just lost/stray? They do enjoy Groundsel as well as the Ragwort. Allegedly, they can synthesise the toxins in Ragwort , to protect themselves from predators, and are considered a 'species of interest' for research into such means of defence.

[galina]

Well it must be feeding on groundsel of which there is always some around.  And the caterpillar just got lost on the adjacent potatoes.  Thanks for that Ancellsfarmer.   

[galina]

Found another one weeding ................... and left the groundsel there in place it was on!

This daytime moth is not that common and so pretty.  Thank you Ancells, learned something.