#nomowmay insects

It finally rained today, and all the butterflies went into hiding.  Once the rain stopped, I went to look at some of the plants that have popped up in my "lawn" since I stopped mowing it between the end of March and the end of August.

Top left is Wild Marjoram with an unidentified shield-shaped insect.

Top right is Ragwort with three Cinnabar Moth caterpillars.  When we were farmers we pulled up the Ragwort every year as it is poisonous to cattle - what a labour of love!  We can now leave it (although we do keep it under control by deadheading some of the plants before they set seed) as so many insects love it, including the Ringlet butterfly bottom left.

We allow a patch of thistles to grow - bottom right - and control the rest, because again they hum with life.  When I spotted this black and red moth, I thought it was a Cinnabar Moth, but they have a red line and two red spots on their wings.  This moth is a Six-Spot Burnet.

Do you know that there are 57 species of butterflies in the UK, but 2,500 moth species!