[Glencairn]

Is this year a bumper year for ragwort?

We usually dig up what's on our ground, bag it and bin it.

There were quite a few big plants yesterday some with many caterpillars which will turn into cinnabar moths.

Obviously none of these will end up in the general waste.

I was on holiday in the Highlands and I saw a field there and one in Perthshire near Blairgowrie where the place was covered in them. I seem to remember from a course I did that ragwort is one of the species of plants that a landowner has to arrange to remove, is this the case for smallholders too?

[Rupert the bear]

Under the Weeds Act 1959, landowners/occupiers must control ragwort within risk areas for grazing or forage production
The Ragwort Control Act 2003 (c 40)  bringing it up to date a bit
Will reveal all, well nearly

 So yes

[Fleecewife]

I noticed there's lots on council verges on roads little and large, but apparently the rules are a bit more relaxed these days because ragwort is a host plant for many species of wildlife.  We have just come back from our son's house in a town, and his wife is actively encouraging ragwort - there are loads of bees, hoverflies and so on enjoying the flowers, and no agricultural land nearby to infest, so no probs.
Like you, we pull out any ragwort which appears on our land and yes, this year there has been much more growing.  I think it is probably to do with the very dry summer.

[macgro7]

I noticed there's lots on council verges on roads little and large, but apparently the rules are a bit more relaxed these days because ragwort is a host plant for many species of wildlife.  We have just come back from our son's house in a town, and his wife is actively encouraging ragwort - there are loads of bees, hoverflies and so on enjoying the flowers, and no agricultural land nearby to infest, so no probs.
Like you, we pull out any ragwort which appears on our land and yes, this year there has been much more growing.  I think it is probably to do with the very dry summer.

We have quite a lot of ragwort too, but summer's been relatively wet around here (Leicestershire)

[Fleecewife]

I noticed there's lots on council verges on roads little and large, but apparently the rules are a bit more relaxed these days because ragwort is a host plant for many species of wildlife.  We have just come back from our son's house in a town, and his wife is actively encouraging ragwort - there are loads of bees, hoverflies and so on enjoying the flowers, and no agricultural land nearby to infest, so no probs.
Like you, we pull out any ragwort which appears on our land and yes, this year there has been much more growing.  I think it is probably to do with the very dry summer.

We have quite a lot of ragwort too, but summer's been relatively wet around here (Leicestershire)

Not that then 

[Buttermilk]

I think that everything has been growing well this year.  My fields are getting overtaken with clover.

[Fleecewife]

I think that everything has been growing well this year.  My fields are getting overtaken with clover.

Loads of clover here too - amazing smell.
I have been noticing today how many berries the rowans have this year

[harmony]

You now have to prevent ragwort from spreading onto agricultural land. Yes, we have a bumper year too.


Prolonger dry spell reducing grass cover followed by wet has meant ideal conditions I believe.

[Glencairn]

You must be onto something. I thought there was a lot more foxgloves than usual this year too.

And cleggs, I got bitten quite heavily this summer.

[arobwk]

Seems to me Councils (or is it Highways Agency) are not very prompt about pulling ragwort.  This year might be a bumper year, but seems to me there is more and more in road verges year on year !

[Richmond]

There is absolutely tons of ragwort round here. We pull it from our fields and then burn it but the guys who farm the land beyond our boundaries don't bother. They occasionally come round and spray off the field boundaries (there's a strip left uncultivated round the edge of the crop which the shoot vehicles use) but it's often after the ragwort has already seeded. 2021 does seem to have been a bumper year for it though. I hate the stuff, and it stinks!

[harmony]

Seems to me Councils (or is it Highways Agency) are not very prompt about pulling ragwort.  This year might be a bumper year, but seems to me there is more and more in road verges year on year !

I have never seen ragwort pulled on verges. I doubt the councils/highways have the manpower these days. If it is in a verge next to my boundary I pull it.

[Glencairn]

My local authority hasn't repaired the potholes I reported in April this year, I can't see them making any great efforts to remove ragwort either.

That said, I read a bit of the government document referred to earlier and it seemed that the emphasis was on areas that are used for agricultural purposes and it almost suggested it was too great a problem for organisations other than farmers to bother with.

[Buttermilk]

One local council help organise volunteer parties to pull ragwort each BHS ragwort week.  They arrange disposal and provide black bin bags and hi viz tabards.  I think that the original initiative was from a council member who was also a BHS member.

[Anke]

There is absolutely no need to pull ragwort from road verges and other non-agri fields - it is an important plant for certain insects and we humans need to stop to just pull up (or worse - spray it off) everything that may not be to our liking! I have ragwort here and there on my land, in small quantities and it doesn't spread very much at all.


There is a whole chapter on it in Isabella Tree's book on Rewilding about the struggles with ragwort - but they stuck to their guns and left it. The Cinnaber moths loved it too. And their cattle, horses, pigs did not die of ragwort poisoning either...