Allotments 4 All
Produce => Wildlife forum => Topic started by: I love digging on August 13, 2014, 22:27:13
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Ragwort on the allotment - leave it for the cinnabar moth caterpillars which are very prolific - or pull it up?
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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
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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. :sunny:
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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.
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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. :icon_cheers:
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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. :wave: