"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
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"K" wrote in message
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Ragwort is a native UK plant which is a primary food plant for the
cinnabar moth, listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as rapidly
declining.

Ragwort is now classed as a noxious weed and there are legal consequences if
you don't pull it up. It causes liver damage to horse and apparently to
children if they handle it.

In my childhood, every ragwort seemed to be crawling with handsome
stripey cinnabar caterpillars and later we saw clouds of moths.
but I hadn't seen any caterpillars for years . Last week, weeding the
drive, I found a very stunted ragwort with two tiny
cinnabar caterpillars on it. A couple of days later, no more had
appeared, and the two had almost exhausted their larder so I moved them
to a full-grown ragwort plant
where they are gobbling and growing fast. I walked up the lane
inspecting every ragwort I could find, not one caterpillar. Dunno why;
there's no chemical spraying here.

What luck to have them in my garden !

Don't tell the weed police!

Cinnabar caterpillars do prefer ragwort but can also feed on grasses.

Tina