Ragwort and Cinnabars .

[Allan.W.]

Travelling around and about this Summer , we were amazed at the huge numbers of Cinnabar moth larvae that were about ,in fact ,it was more unusual to go out and not see any !
It reminded me of when I was a little-un (in the mid-sixtys ) we,d see them everywhere,we used to call them "Dennis the menace"
caterpillars ,and more often than not ,some would go home in a jam -jar or end up on the school nature table !
I don't know why this season they seem to have exploded ,we got used to seeing totally stripped upright Ragwort stalks ,particularly on the North Downs (Kent ) and at Dungeness ……………………… the Dungeness Small Coppers were most put out !
I,ve also included a couple of shots of an unusual deformed (Fasciated ) Ragwort stem ,from up on the downs.

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