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Is this a Cinnabar moth on my shrub?

deadendwaterfalldeadendwaterfall Posts: 70
in Wildlife gardening
Whatever it is, is it good to have in my wild corner of our community allotment?




Posts

  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    Yes, it is a Cinnabar moth. They feed on ragwort so not a threat to cultivated plants, and nice to have.
  • deadendwaterfalldeadendwaterfall Posts: 70
    Alan Clark2 in Liverpool said:
    Yes, it is a Cinnabar moth. They feed on ragwort so not a threat to cultivated plants, and nice to have.
    Thank you. Is there anything I can do to further encourage them? 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    deadendwaterfall said:
    Alan Clark2 in Liverpool said:
    Yes, it is a Cinnabar moth. They feed on ragwort so not a threat to cultivated plants, and nice to have.
    Thank you. Is there anything I can do to further encourage them? 
    Motivational memes are very popular these days.
    Otherwise the best thing you can do for this moth is to not remove the caterpillar food plant which is Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) if there's any growing on your plot. Usually though it's happy enough growing in poor soil in neglected areas so you can concentrate on providing the usual pollinator friendly flowers. There are hundreds of species of moth though so don't worry too much about making a home for just one of them.


    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    I get cinnabar moths as I have Ragwort in my front garden which I hate. The caterpillars are currently feasting on it and the pollinators are loving it but as soon as its usefulness to the wildlife is over it's coming out. 
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