Wasteground beauty

This is the final instar larvae of the gorgeous Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) feeding on the typical foodplant of ragwort. Ragwort is hated by many due to it's toxicity to livestock and is being 'pulled' from fields on a large scale. I just hope that this native wildflower, and this moth, don't become rarities given time...

Cinnabar moth caterpillars accumulate bitter-tasting alkaloids from the plants they eat, storing them for the purpose of being unpalatable to would-be predators, and they advertise this through their lurid yellow and black colouration.

Extra photos are of two six-spot burnet moths nectaring on a spear thistle with a common carder bee, and a spear thistle close-up.