Updated
April 2003
Breeding Site Development Kits

One Cinnabar caterpillar will eat a Ragwort flower in approximately 3 minutes. A brood of caterpillars will eat a whole plant in a day, the brood will then march off and find other plants, consuming over 30 plants during their life cycle. That’s nearly a million seeds consumed by the larvae from a single Cinnabar Moth.  A million seeds, that without Cinnabar predation have been finding their way into verges, banks, hedges, wasteland and pastures, destined to become 10 million seeds the following year etc etc.

Following the Cinnabar population collapse in 1989, the moth has failed to recover naturally to effective control levels, despite an abundance of  food plants.  Observations over the past 3 years have shown that normal ‘light’ levels of laying by the moth are heavily predated by spiders and wasps during the caterpillar stage.

When laying densities were ‘jump started’ to levels of approximately one brood per plant, survival rates were dramatically increased.

To re-establish this vital natural control agent, its re-introduction must be managed. This management must happen in order to bias in favour of Cinnabar survival and to achieve the critical numbers necessary for sustained recovery.

Over the past 3 years, Ragwort-UK has been researching all of the aspects vital to ensure the successful growth of the Cinnabar moth population.

With this year’s moths emerging successfully from hibernation we are confident that all the major steps and hurdles are now known and controllable.

Using this experience and in order to successfully re-introduce the Cinnabar moth as quickly as possible, Ragwort-UK have developed:-

 

Breeding Site Development Kits

These kits are designed for issue to selected agencies with both the need to effectively control Ragwort, and the resources to set up Managed Nucleus Sites. These managed sites will be the safe breeding grounds for the Cinnabar, minimising predation and natural losses and kick-starting the successful re-introduction of Ragwort’s real predator.

The kits contain all of the detailed information necessary to successfully select and set up a Managed Nucleus Site. When sites have been optimised to help maximise their survival, a brood of Cinnabar caterpillars at pre-pupation stage will be shipped for release at the site.

Provided the site has been carefully selected using the knowledge and experience gained by Ragwort-UK, between 60% to 80% of the pupae should produce Cinnabar moths in June the following year. These moths will quickly stock the Nucleus Site with eggs, then fly out to start laying in surrounding areas.

These locations will become the basis for a large natural population of Cinnabar moths over the next two years.

Like most natural processes, re-establishing effective control is not an overnight process.  It has taken Ragwort 12 years to establish itself to today’s levels, it will take 3 - 4 years to recover Cinnabar levels capable of controlling the vast seed reserves that now exist in verges, banks and pastures.

The sooner this reintroduction starts, the sooner control will be regained and the sooner responsible agencies can cease their extensive removal programmes.

 

Regenerating ‘'Nucleus Colonies’ throughout Britain requires the creation of Managed Sites.

 

To maximise the  survival and reproduction of the released stocks, kits have been prepared that include :-

      Detailed Site Selection Criteria covering -
             Sun, drainage, traffic, predation, over wintering,
      Site Management Training Pack
      Nucleus Stock comprising -
             a brood of Cinnabar caterpillars at pre pupation stage.

Optionally, our Field Staff are available to direct site selection and preparation, or alternatively a full Setup and Management Service is available.

These Kits will  be on general release from June to July while stocks last.
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