Sometimes it pays to walk more slowly than you would normally and have a good look around, which is exactly what I was doing on the weekly butterfly transect the other day. I wonder how many times I walked past this group of ragwort plants before I saw what was on them - these amazing little caterpillars. You'll find them on the trail to the north hide at Loch Gruinart, and I counted over 40 of these striking beauties on just a few plants.
They are in fact the larvae of the stunning-looking cinnabar moth which lays its eggs on ragwort, its larval food plant. And here’s a couple of shots of this beautiful day flying moth that I took when I was still at RSPB Dove Stone last year.
But whilst it's great to see these caterpillars thriving, we have to be careful about just where ragwort is growing, because despite supporting many species of wildlife including fungi and insects, ragwort is toxic to grazing animals. So whilst this little patch of ragwort is ok where it is, one of the reserve management jobs over the summer (much-loved by volunteers!) is to hand-pull ragwort from grazing and silage areas before we put the cattle out to prepare the land for the arrival of the geese in October. For more information see http://www.plantlife.org.uk/publications/ragwort_friend_or_foe