Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

The Cinnabar Moth

The cinnabar moth thinks it's onto a good thing with ragwort and won't lay its eggs on anything else. When they hatch the caterpillars eat the ragwort leaves, ingesting the ragwort's poison in the process- which makes them unattractive to most of their potential predators. What the moth never factored into its calculations is that humans might class their habitat as a biohazard and grub it up. Stupid moth.

Moral: Don't be too picky about what you eat. Overspecialisation is the royal road to extinction.

The cinnabar moth is a smart little fellow with black wings and red spots. The caterpillar is similarly handsome in black and orange. We don't want to lose the moths so I'm checking the plants for caterpillars before I pull them up. If there are caterpillars I'll let them stand for the time being. By late August the cinnabars will have moved into their next phase- wintering underground before turning into the aeronauts of 2020.
Subscribe

  • Petworth

    We walked down to the lake over the vast expanse of dry yellow grass, avoiding as best we could the droppings of sheep and geese and at a certain…

  • Frustrating

    I like to visit new places but I also like to sleep in my own bed. When we first moved down to the South East we explored the surrounding area…

  • Worship

    What Quakers do in what we call our hour of "Worship" is very much up to them as individuals. Some read, some meditate, some pray, some…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 2 comments