I just disturbed an insect in my garden, prompting it to fly around a bit. It looked red in flight. It flew like a lepidoptera species, but we don’t have any red butterflies so I figured it must be a moth.
Then I saw it still on a leaf, and immediately recognised it as a Cinnabar moth – there’s less red showing when it’s stationary.
Although it’s supposed to be common, that’s the first adult I’ve ever seen, although I have seen and photographed its yellow and black caterpillars.
They feed on Ragwort. It’s probably no coincidence that I added some Ragwort to my garden this morning! This adult probably detected it’s presence and decided to investigate.
That was the 60th species recorded as part of our Moths Project. A RED letter day!
Czech Conroy, WGG Coordinator
We set up the Moths Project as one of our very first activities because the number of moths and different species can be a very good indicator of how wildlife friendly the garden is