Cinnabar moth

[BarleySugar]

When we got home today we saw a black and red moth on the window. I'd never seen one before, but looking it up, Cinnabar moth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it was a cinnabar moth which eats ragwort. Seeing the picture of the caterpillar on the wiki page reminded me last year that there had been loads of these at the allotment site on ragwort type plants (we haven't got actual ragwort up there), but I never noticed the moths. I'm pleased to know it is a friend not a foe, it was so striking

[GardenFaery]

This bit is strange about them though? lol

Often, very few survive to the pupal stage, mainly due to them completely consuming the food source before reaching maturity; this could be a possible explanation for their tendency to engage in seemingly random cannibalistic behaviour, as many will die from starvation
Bit like Hannibal Lecter's moth? lol

[zazen999]

Aah - we had one of these last week at college...will post my pic tomorrow once I've resized it.