After spotting a Cinnabar Moth a couple of weeks ago I started looking for the tell tale signs of the yearly invasion and today I found the first signs of the annual ragwort decimation by these tiny Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae) caterpillars. They were only about 1cm long but they were everywhere I looked, marching over their chosen battleground, leaving no Ragwort plant standing.
Were they in Queens Park where I’d seen the adult and been looking all week? Were they hell… this morning I parked the car and not 3 feet from the door was a mass of tiny yellow and black warriors.Looking back at last year I think they’re a bit behind but who can blame them – it was a bit of a chilly start to the year…
Luckily I had the ‘baby’ camera with me, the Canon Powershot A640 so I was able to get a relatively good close-up although the breeze made it a bit tricky. The more I use the A640 the more I like it even though I’ve had it for ages. Sometimes I get fixated in thinking that the EOS 450D with all it’s lenses and gizmos is always better and most of the time it is but I can put the Powershot in my pocket, it takes good pictures and it’s macro facility is astounding so from now on when I go out deliberately to take a few photographs I’m going to take them both.
Spotted a Comma butterfly newly hatched and hanging of it’s old crysalis yesterday but didn’t have a camera with me but I’ve got my eye on another pupae which hopefully should ‘hatch’ soon – it would be good to grab a shot of the butterfly emerging but the weather is a bit touch and go in the North West at the moment and catching it at that stage will need a fair bit of luck.
Are those real these moths are such a delicious bait for fishing please let us know if you used them or not share some videos thanks
Not actually tried using them as bait as it’s not the kind of fishing I do although I expect trout and most freshwater fish would take them
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They’re not very tasty to birds apparently. They absorb a lot of unpleasant chemicals from their food source.
The caterpillars are as poisonous to birds as the ragwort they feed on is to us and our cattle. . Maybe fish wouldn’t take them. If you want a good bait of that sort, try the larvae of a wasps nest. If you can kill he wasps first of course.