Ragnar wrote:
Oddly, I think I would recognise a red admiral.
Could have been one of these:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/i...70_470x352.jpg

Very pretty but not a butterfly of course.

If it /is/ that one, it appears to be a cinnabar moth:
http://www.butterfly-conservation.or...tures=&Family=

One reason for not killing all the ragwort.

"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.

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

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:09:47 +0100, David Hill
wrote:




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

It's merely an "injurious weed" as per the Weeds Act of 1950something
(yep, there is such an Act). The Sec of State can serve a notice on
someone on whose land common ragwort (among I think 5 weeds in total)
is growing to prevent its spread. Indeed Ragwort got its own Act in
2003 I believe. IIRC it's hilarious.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:09:47 +0100, David Hill
wrote:




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

It's merely an "injurious weed" as per the Weeds Act of 1950something
(yep, there is such an Act). The Sec of State can serve a notice on
someone on whose land common ragwort (among I think 5 weeds in total)
is growing to prevent its spread. Indeed Ragwort got its own Act in
2003 I believe. IIRC it's hilarious.


You might not find it so hilarious if it killed your horse, eh?

On 17/07/2012 01:03, Christina Websell wrote:
"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:09:47 +0100, David Hill
wrote:




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

It's merely an "injurious weed" as per the Weeds Act of 1950something
(yep, there is such an Act). The Sec of State can serve a notice on
someone on whose land common ragwort (among I think 5 weeds in total)
is growing to prevent its spread. Indeed Ragwort got its own Act in
2003 I believe. IIRC it's hilarious.


You might not find it so hilarious if it killed your horse, eh?


For more information on Rabwort then see http://www.ragwortfacts.com/
Not all Ragwort is native to UK
"Oxford ragwort gets its name from the Oxford Botanic Gardens where
plants were first grown in the 1700s. They had been collected from Mount
Etna on the Island of Sicily where they were found growing on the lava
fields. By1794 the plant was to be found on the city walls having
escaped from its original source. With the advent of the railways Oxford
Ragwort, finding the clinker beds of the tracks similar to its original
volcanic habitat spread around the country. Oxford Ragwort can now be
found all over the UK and is often to be found growing in the gaps in
paving stones.

Recent research (1) has found that Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus) is
actually of hybrid origin. Its parents are two other speicies of
Ragwort, Senecio aethnensis and Senecio chrysanthemifolius which are
both only found on Sicily. It appears that the occur at different
heights on the mountain and in between these points on the mountain the
hybrid occurs. It is this Ragwort that was originally taken to Oxford."

In article ,
says...


ISTR that ragwort is a notifiable weed and you are obliged to pull it up by
law. I might be wrong on this.

You are.

Janet

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:12:24 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article ,
says...


ISTR that ragwort is a notifiable weed and you are obliged to pull it up by
law. I might be wrong on this.

You are.

Janet

Unless the Secretary of State for something or other ((in Wales the
Welsh Ministers) don't know about Scotland) issues you with a notice.
I noticed a bit growing out of my front hedge and yanked it up because
it was a weed. A couple of days later I got a letter from the local
council telling me that I had a noxious weed growing on my land and
..... Seems the jobsworths had been around that day and it was pure
co-incidence.

They sent me a separate letter the same day telling me that a tree was
growing over the pavement and I needed to cut it back. I pointed out
that they had previously sent me a letter telling me not to cut it
back.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

"Jake" wrote in message
...

They sent me a separate letter the same day telling me that a tree was
growing over the pavement and I needed to cut it back. I pointed out
that they had previously sent me a letter telling me not to cut it
back.

lol and what was the outcome of that one?
--
--

http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:06 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:



"Jake" wrote in message
.. .

They sent me a separate letter the same day telling me that a tree was
growing over the pavement and I needed to cut it back. I pointed out
that they had previously sent me a letter telling me not to cut it
back.

lol and what was the outcome of that one?
--
Nothing. The chap I spoke to just said "Oh" and I've heard nothing
since. I don't know what is so special about this tree as it was only
planted when the house was built 22 years ago and it's a whitebeam,
nothing special. But the deeds mention it (there are 4 other trees not
mentioned) and say that I mustn't lop or whatever for 25 years and if
it dies of its own accord in that time I must replace it with same
species and similar size!

Although I'm at the end of a cul-de-sac and the pavement under the
tree is rarely used, I wanted to lift the head to leave an 8' high
clearance. Thought I'd better check first and was told not to do
anything. I asked for a letter to protect myself and got one.

But in 3 years I can chop it down if I want. There isn't a TPO on the
tree, just some bizzare planning requirement that it should be there.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

I did say a reason for not killing ALL the ragwort. Of course you're going to kill it on or next to grazing land. But it is a british native plant, and therefore I don't think it is reasonable to seek to eradicate completely from the UK.

yes, you are indeed wrong on two counts.

1) It is not notifiable. No plants, as far as I am aware, are notifiable. If someone tells you that a plant is notifiable, try asking them who you are supposed to notify ;-)

2) You are not obliged to pull it up, merely to take measure to avoid its spreading IF you have been served notice to this effect by the Ministry (ie someone else has been able to demonstrate that your ragwort is spreading on to their land). It is covered by two Acts

The Weeds Act 1959, which covers spear thistle, creeping thistle, curled dock, broad leaved dock and ragwort, allows MAFF (presumably now DEFRA) to serve a notice on a landowner to take whatever measures are required to stop the weed spreading.

The Ragwort Control Act 2003 provides for the Minister to draw up a code of practice on the control of Ragwort.

"kay" wrote in message
...

Christina Websell;964507 Wrote:


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.



I did say a reason for not killing ALL the ragwort. Of course you're
going to kill it on or next to grazing land. But it is a british native
plant, and therefore I don't think it is reasonable to seek to eradicate
completely from the UK.


ISTR that ragwort is a notifiable weed and you are obliged to pull it up
by
law. I might be wrong on this.

yes, you are indeed wrong on two counts.[/i][/color]

I knew it!

1) It is not notifiable. No plants, as far as I am aware, are
notifiable. If someone tells you that a plant is notifiable, try asking
them who you are supposed to notify ;-)

2) You are not obliged to pull it up, merely to take measure to avoid
its spreading IF you have been served notice to this effect by the
Ministry (ie someone else has been able to demonstrate that your ragwort
is spreading on to their land). It is covered by two Acts

The Weeds Act 1959, which covers spear thistle, creeping thistle, curled
dock, broad leaved dock and ragwort, allows MAFF (presumably now DEFRA)
to serve a notice on a landowner to take whatever measures are required
to stop the weed spreading.

The Ragwort Control Act 2003 provides for the Minister to draw up a code
of practice on the control of Ragwort.


Maybe I was thinking of this Act. I did say I could be wrong about it
being notifiable.
I've eliminated it from my land. It took a few years.










--
kay

Yes, despite it's name, this Act doesn't do anything about controlling ragwort, merely allows the Minister to produce a code of practice. That's what Jake found hilarious.

I suppose that, if there is a dispute about controlling ragwort, and one side says "I have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it spreading", the other side can say "have you taken all the steps described in the Code of Practice?"

You are surrounded by grazing land, I believe. I am in the middle of town, with one horse half a mile away as the crow flies, and the nearest cows or sheep a mile away. On the other hand, I do have cinnabar moths and no groundsel - they lay their eggs on species of Senecio, not on grasses - so I don't feel the same need to try to eradicate a native plant.

Sacha wrote:
If it /is/ that one, it appears to be a cinnabar moth:
http://www.butterfly-conservation.or...tures=&Family=

That's

beautiful. I've never seen one before in the flesh but hope they'll
visit us one day. I saw a pic the other day of a gorgeous moth (we
think) with a bright scarlet 'tail' and navy wings with white splodges.
If I can find the pic again, I'll give a link to it.

There is an identification guide on that website:
http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/