On 2013-08-08 22:17:43 +0100, kay said:
[color=blue][i]
Bob Hobden;989411 Wrote:
"Sacha" wrote

We were our walking in Richmond Park on Tuesday and came across a large

Oxford Ragwort plant covered in butterflies, there must have been a
hundred
Meadow Browns all over the plant taking nectar. It was like a cloud.
Strangely other plants had none feeding on them.


Was up at Ribblehead Quarry the other day looking at the ragworts coveed
in cinnabar moth caterpillars. Apparently the cinnabar moths absorb the
poisonous substance from the ragwort and in their turn become poisonous,
hence their yellow and black warning colouration, and the fact they see
no need to hide themselves.

But we were also finding them on coltsfoot, but on no other plants, and
when I googled, I found that the same poisonous substance is found in
Coltsfoot (but not in many other plants) in small quantities, along with
a closely related also poisonous substance. It's for this reason they
choose coltsfoot as an alternative feedplant once they've stripped all
the ragwort in an area.

Meanwhile, I found this beauty on our lavender and marjoram this morning
(several of them)
'Pyrausta aurata - UKMoths' (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1361)

What a beautiful creature. I've certainly never seen that but I'll be
keeping my eyes open.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk