This time last year we were awash with blooming ragwort, attracting hundreds of bees and butterflies to feed on the sweet nectar. That is why ragwort has been a welcomed asset to the nature reserve in the last couple of years but as the ragwort plants became more numerous the risk of them spreading to neighbouring farmland was increasing so we had to start to control the plant by pulling it up by the roots. This year the reserve staff had planned to cut the densest areas of the plant but at the end of June we spotted a large number of adult cinnabar moths flying around laying their eggs on the plants and by July the eggs had hatched and thousands of tiny caterpillars climbed all over the ragwort plants munching as they went.
Today if you visit the nature reserve you would be hard pushed to find any ragwort as the caterpillars have munched every part of the plants right down to the ground. You might however notice the little yellow and black striped caterpillars crawling across the footpaths in search of more food or a nice safe place under ground where they will pupate and stay until next year. These caterpillars are the best control for ragwort but next year they will find few if any ragwort plants to eat and their numbers will fall until the ragwort numbers increase again, and so this is how it will go on for many years. We will continue to monitor the ragwort and the cinnabar caterpillars in the future but one thing is sure there will always be a home for them both at Marazion Marsh.