On 15/07/2012 22:01, Christina Websell wrote:
"kay" wrote in message
...
No Name;964168 Wrote:
Ragnar wrote:--
Oddly, I think I would recognise a red admiral.
Could have been one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/bl8rzok-
Very pretty but not a butterfly of course.-
If it /is/ that one, it appears to be a cinnabar moth:
'Identify a day-flying moth - Butterfly Conservation'
(http://tinyurl.com/d399s5u)
One reason for not killing all the ragwort.
Unless you have horses. They will rarely eat ragwort when it is growing but
when dried in hay they will and not a lot of it causes severe liver damage
up to and including death.
Cinnabar moths do prefer ragwort as a caterpillar plant but their
caterpillars can also do without it and eat various grasses.
ISTR that ragwort is a notifiable weed and you are obliged to pull it up by
law. I might be wrong on this. When I had a horse I was ruthless if one
plant popped it's head up in her paddock.
I like cinnabar moths but I liked my horse better.
My friend's pony died from ragwort poisoning and was ill for ages before
diagnosis so I never took that chance.
It's not notifiable , you only have to look at how much grows along the
Motorways where it's left to it's own devices.
David @ the showery end of Swansea bay