Cinnabar

There were hundreds of these black and gold caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth, on ragwort all around campus and adjacent derelict plots today. Apparently they can be used as biological control for ragwort, but I son't know if that's behind this outbreak, or if it's natural.

Although it was cloudy for most of the day, when the sun broke through it was very warm. There were quite a few Small Whites around campus, and I spotted my first Ringlet there too. I also had an encounter with a stray Swallow-tailed moth which wafted out of a demolition site and took shelter high on a conifer.

Not bad for a short mini-beast lunchtime stroll.