Cinnabar – My Butterflies

Wingspan 32–49 mm. Flies both by day and by night from late April to June in open places where its food plant, Common Ragwort, grows. By day, in sunshine, it seeks nectar on various flowers and rests low down in the vegetation. The species is a rare visitor to the area, but a small colony was once seen on a strip of fallow land bordering the plantation, which has since been ploughed up. The caterpillar, with its handsome tiger-like cross stripes, lives in July–September and overwinters as a pupa.

More photos

Plantation – June – on fallow land with Common Ragwort

Plantation – July – caterpillar on Common Ragwort. The plant is poisonous, but the caterpillar tolerates it and takes the poison up into its body. Both the caterpillar and, later, the adult moth are therefore poisonous.