October 2012. During September 2012 ecologists striving to secure the future of the nationally endangered Barberry Carpet moth, established a new population of this species near Ashton Keynes in the Cotswold Water Park.
The Barberry Carpet moth is so-named because it depends upon the scarce Barberry bush to thrive. Barberry is a hedgerow bush similar to Hawthorn or Sloe, but with yellow flowers and yellowy-orange fruits. The adult moth lays eggs only on the Barberry bush and without this species the moth cannot complete its life cycle. Barberry is now a scarce hedgerow plant; during the nineteenth century it was found to be a host of wheat rust, a fungal disease of wheat. Consequently, it was uprooted across much of the UK and today Barberry plants, and other species relying upon it, are now very rare.
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