Cinnabar Rescue

I don't have much of a garden here at my temporary dwellings; the small paved yard to the rear is accompanied by an overgrown driveway housing some wheelie bins. This part is unloved and subjected to brutal hacking and spraying by other residents, but I have done my best to encourage any wild flowers where I can. On a recent trip back from the bins, I noticed the scrawniest little Ragwort plant pushing its way up through the gravel. I almost stepped on it, it was so inconspicuous. Upon closer inspection, I could see that it's stunted growth was due to Cinnabar moth caterpillars; they'd made light work of devouring the leaves and were piled on top of each other making a start on the dwindling stem. I couldn’t quite believe how many there were!

I later read that this is not uncommon for Cinnabars... multiple females may lay their eggs on a single, underdeveloped plant which never stood a chance of hosting hundreds of ravenous caterpillars. Hunger then forces the caterpillars to scatter in search of more Ragwort, or in some cases, start to cannibalise. 

Luckily for these particular wort maggots, I knew there was a vast patch of Ragwort at a local park that I could relocate them to. I carefully transferred the caterpillars into a jar, and took them on a short jaunt to their new home.

Within seconds, they set about tucking into the fresh leaves of their new host. There was more than enough Ragwort to sustain several generations of caterpillars, and as these plants lined my usual walking route I was able to admire them fattening up as the weeks went by.

 

These moths hold a special place in my heart from my childhood and whenever  I see them (which isn't as often as I did back then) I'm taken back to summers spent running wild, fully enthralled with nature and her seasonal offerings of bugs, bird nests and tadpoles. We’d scour any Ragwort we found in the hope of spotting these fantastic caterpillars. My sister and I would rear them in jars and wait excitedly as the pupae developed in our grandparents potting shed. One year I got to witness one of the moths emerge; the glowing vermillion of its pristine wings is a spectacle I’ll never forget.

I decided to keep a handful of the rescue caterpillars for old times sake (and because I’m able to harvest fresh leaves and flowers for them every day) and they’re currently living on the kitchen windowsill. I'll keep you posted on their progress, and who knows, maybe next year I’ll get to watch a pair of spectacular wings grace the world once more.