pink butterfly??

[Dan Salter]

....

[Dan Salter]

Ok this thread intrigues me still, and im convinced it will come to a predictable end of it being one of the native likely candidates..but as the thread is getting a bit long now i have gone through and collated all the sightings data ..mainly to see those that swore blind and then id'd them as burnet or cinnebar..eventually..
Those that still swear blind...
and also to see the typical variation in colours, markings, size etc of sightings ( in typical UFO style) which may mean we are not even all searching for the same butterfly / moth

Original Post
TEMPEST: Devon 22 Jun 06
Sighting: Butterfly, Black Body, Bright pink wings, no other colours on its wings.
Cinnebar MOTH suggested by Ollie and turned out to be so. although tempest claims it was more pink and she didnt notice the black markings.

TODDYTWO (county durham): 5 Jun 06
Sighting:Butterfly, Swore all one colour, Bright shocking pinky purple
6 Jul 06 "Turned out to be 5 spot burnet MOTH"

LONEWOLF: 4 Jun 07
Sighting: Pink and black Butterfly, certainly wasnt a cinnebar.Pink and Black and 2" wide! (most sightings are of a small butterfly?)

NARROW BORDERED 5 SPOT BURNET suggested by ADAMCHEESEMAN

HAWAII: 18 Jun 07
Sighting: Bright Pink Butterfly

NADAJ: South Oxfordshire 23 Jun 07
Sighting: Bright Pink butterfly/ moth claims not Cinnebar or Burnet

MAYORMAYNOT: Tonbridge Kent 23 Jun 07
Sighting: SMALL shocking pink butterfly all one colour with black body..claims not a cinnebar.

LINDA: West Yorks 24 Jun 07
Sighting: Butterfly, SMALL, vibrant pink with no black markings

FOX MOTH suggested by AGRUMPYCOW

SBOO3:West Yorks 24 Jun 07
Sighting: SMALL butterfly, flourescant pink/purple BLACK SPOT IN CENTRE OF WINGS claims NOT the moth pictured.

NADAJ claims NOT the Fox Moth suggested.

A year after original post TEMPEST claims to have not seen another but now seems to think it isnt the CINNEBAR moth she thought.

ANNACAS: Tattingstone Suffolk 27 Jun 07
Sighting: Butterfly, Black body, Bright BARBIE pink wings uniform underside, same pink with black markings to edges of wings topside...claims definately none of above pictured or mentioned.

GARDEN CARPET suggest Rosy Footman moth : 27 Jun 07

GUY F suggest Ruby Tiger moth : 27th Jun 07

GILL CATTON suggests 5 Spot Burnet

GUY F suggest Cinnebar with photo

ANNACAS: " Oooh could be a Cinnebar looking at that picture"

HAWAII: 28 Jun 07
" what I saw was just small super bright pink wings as it landed but I seem to remembe them being the same on bth sides & not seeing any other colour"

JAMES M: West Yorks 4 Jul 07
"I think looking at that pic now that most of these sighting are The Cinnabar Moth"

SB003: 5 Jul 07
" I know now that the butterfly i saw was definately a Cinnebar Moth"

LONEWOLF: 6 Jul 07 still claims his was a butterfly and it was pink...not a cinnebar.

ANNACAS: 7 Jul 07 NOW claims its not a cinnebar again?

LINDA: 9 Jul 07 " I`ve been longing to see one again as I was pretty convinced that it was not the cinnabar so I lept out of the bath when my husband shouted that there was one flapping about in our bedroom.As soon as I saw it at rest on the window I could see that it was indeed the cinnabar and when it flew out -it was my pink butterfly" Hoorah !

HELEN 253: NE uk coastal 11 Jul 07
Sighting: "the butterfly or moth that i saw was quite large (perhaps 5cm?), it caught my eye when flying because it had was a distinctively pink blur,then landed on my neighbour's door so I got the chance to have a proper look...It's body was thick, black and covered in hair. It's wings were shorter than it's body and had a vivid pink stripe on each of them. When it's rings were at rest, they ended about halfway down the insect's body"

COLINAJ suggests large Elephant Hawkmoth or Privet, 5 or 6 spot burnet?
UKWILDLIFE suggests Cinnebar


HELEN 253: "Not one of those"

Helen then Goes on to possibly id it as a Scotch Burnet Moth

DANSALTER ( me ) my first post in the thread admitting how i once thought i had seen a rare exotic butterfly when i first saw a burnet or a cinnebar.

SBOO3 again admits his "Pink Butterfly" turned out to be a Cinnebar

after several confirmed id of either cinnebar or burnet LONEWOLF now adds on the 16 Jul 07
"Just to remind anyone, the thread is about an elusive, possibly foreign pink and black butterfly so please stop writing about cinnabar moths and 5-spot burnets, it was neither of them I can assure you"

MINNIE: South Northamptonshire 16 Jul 07
Sighting: "Today, I too saw a bright pink butterfly - the pink of a fluroescent pen case, about 2 cms x 3cms with black stripes under its wings. Defintely NOT a Cinnabar Moth nor a Five Spot Burnett"

SANDRABLAIR: 31 Jul 07
Sighting: "pink butterfly I saw was a coral pink with a mauve trim round its wings,a bit smaller than a peacock butterfly "

SPARKLYSARAH: 31 Jul 07 suggests a beautiful pink winged moth pic ( no name?) but with no black body or markings.

WHISKYBOTTLE: 1 Aug 07 suggests Scarlet Tiger moth

GUYF: 1 aug 07 suggests with pic SPANISH MOTH from america

CHRISTINA 2 Aug 07 suggests the POSTMAN

MAYORMAYNOT claims not POSTMAN

CHRISTINA, MINNIE and HAWAII all claim it was neither postman, spanish, gypsey or elephant hawk.

GUY F suggests Rosy Footman with a pic
JAMES M suggets Pink Moth

So..5/6 Spot burnet, Narrow Bordered burnet, Scotch Burnet, Cinnebar moth, Elephant, popular, Lime hawkmoths, Painted lady, Pink moth, Rosy footman, Scarlet Tiger, Spanish moth, Gypsey, Postman....have all been suggested.
Some have turned out to be Burnet or Cinnebar ( although some later come back saying differently)
The Sightings range from 2" , 5cm to "very small" , all pink both sides..pink with black body...all pink with black centre spot...pink underneath with black markings on top...all pink with no other colours or markings. or FAT hairy black body to "No hair like a moth"

and after all these sightings and posts...not one single photo or even accurate drawing?

and i cant find any reports or records anywhere else on the net except this thread on WAB?

Im still sceptical but i would LOVE it to be real, a rare visitor or something but i need to see a pic to believe.

Dan

[harasseddad]

I was reminded of this thread the other day when I saw a narrow-bordered 5 spot burnet flying from ragwort. In flight it did indeed seem entirely pink apart from the black body - not at all the effect one would expect from the pictures, or from seeing one at rest.

[its true]

Hi

I also saw this Pink Butterfly in June in Lancashire, I have been following this Forum since to try to come to a conclusion as to what the name of the butterfly is.

It was bright pink, smaller than any butterfly I have seen. It had a black body and a black mark on its wings.

All of the photographs shown are not ths butterfly. I'm not a butterfly expert but I know what I saw and am positive none of the photos match the description by any stretch of the imagination.

[funkymunky]

I know this guy Tempest he's seen pink elephants too

[naturelover]

Originally Posted by funkymunky

I know this guy Tempest he's seen pink elephants too

hi i know you are all going to scream but,about a month ago my daughter in law came to visit saying she had seen a fantastic butterfly, it had vivid red wings black body and legs,no other markings,she said she had never seen anything like it befor,i had forgotten all about it untill i read the post,this was seen in march,cambridgeshire midday,she said it was such a bright red it caught her eye and she watched it as it flew out of sight,she could see it from quite a long way off because how bright it was,there has been too many sightings for it not to be a butterfly, dont you think it could have come from abroad with our green house effect weather,what do you think?

[chkm8]

could it possibly be the lesser spotted barbie moth

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by chkm8

could it possibly be the lesser spotted barbie moth

now dont't be silly....Its clearly been stated the wings have no markings...that makes it a common barbie moth

[naturelover]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

now dont't be silly....Its clearly been stated the wings have no markings...that makes it a common barbie moth

you recon it was a moth then,my daughter in law swears it was a butterfly,if it was a moth why was it flying on a hot summers day,i thought moths came out after dark.am i wrong then do they fly in the light as well?

[wilddawn]

Originally Posted by naturelover

you recon it was a moth then,my daughter in law swears it was a butterfly,if it was a moth why was it flying on a hot summers day,i thought moths came out after dark.am i wrong then do they fly in the light as well?

I'm not an expert but I have seen a lot of cinnebar moths this summer during the day, some one suggested I'd disturbed them from their sleep as I walked past but I even saw one laying eggs, so I guess some must be day flying?

As for the "barbie" butterfly (btw, I love that name), aswell as the possibility that it's a moth, is it not possible this is an unidentified species or one that has travelled from Europe?