pink butterfly??

Dan Salter · #1 (**permalink**) 04-07-2009, 01:45 AM

Is there any reason it changed from a butterfly to a moth?

Cant wait to see the pics!, although i suspect it will be Elephant Hawkmoth (but am more than willing to be proved wrong?....lets hope this time we have a specimen at last?)

WhiskyBottle · #2 (**permalink**) 04-07-2009, 10:20 AM

Dan - get some sleep

While we are waiting the photograph, if anyone has Bernard Skinner's 'Moths of the British Isles', check out plate 22, No. 32 - Cinnabar Moth ab. coneyi

No idea have frequent these are but may explain 'some' of the sightings.

cutecoot · #3 (**permalink**) 04-07-2009, 10:59 AM

Oooh, s. Northamptonshire?! Hope I get to see one of these! Although I did see a bright pink thing fly up out of the hedgerow when I was out walking on the fields the other evening .. and just assumed it to be a cinnabar moth

Dying to see the photo of the dead butterfly and try and clear things up once and for all!

tempest · #4 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 07:18 AM

On tenterhooks waiting for the pic! Can't believe there have been so many posts since I first posted about a pink butterfly - in 2006 or whenever it was. I've been following the posts since then with amusement but haven't ever seen another one! It's most amusing all the arguments that have ensued! Maybe it is a 'new' species or perhaps a hawkmoth or a cinnabar - let's hope the picture clears it up once and for all! Wish I'd seen another though! Lovely to know i wasn't the only daft pink butterfly enthusiast out there after all!

Tempest

vole-woman · #5 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 09:34 AM

I'm subscribing to this thread as I too am really keen to see what the butterfly is!

Jason Green · #6 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Is there any reason it changed from a butterfly to a moth?

...yes, complete metamorphosis

Good to see you back Tempest!

Gaina · #7 (**permalink**) 07-07-2009, 12:14 AM

Not wishing to start anything but I just googled 'pink moth' and the results were quite astounding! I'd be fascinated to know if anyone has a private collection that includes Rosy Maple Moths, native to North America in the areas where these 'Pink Butterflies' have been sighted. If people have seen an 'escapee' of this particular moth, I can certainly understand the excitement! It looks like a flying battenburg cake to be honest. LOL

jacquie weeks · #8 (**permalink**) 08-07-2009, 09:05 AM

I still have the body in a tupperware pot and the photo but am sick after a bad accident and can't download it.

northamptonshire

Dan Salter · #9 (**permalink**) 08-07-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacquie weeks

I still have the body in a tupperware pot and the photo but am sick after a bad accident and can't download it.

northamptonshire

Well get well soon...and when your better get it on here.

pink · #10 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 06:20 PM

Sorry to add to the misery ,I've just seen this butterfly/moth in Donnington ,Lincolnshire.

Striking artificial 'Barbie' pink and black ,quite small.Not like any of the pictures posted on the threads.Flying quite quickly,quickly lost in the fields.The pink was so bright ,as another post put it as almost artificial it was so striking.

Propose we name it Barbie until it can be identified?.

Gill Catton · #11 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pink

Sorry to add to the misery ,I've just seen this butterfly/moth in Donnington ,Lincolnshire.

Striking artificial 'Barbie' pink and black ,quite small.Not like any of the pictures posted on the threads.Flying quite quickly,quickly lost in the fields.The pink was so bright ,as another post put it as almost artificial it was so striking.

Propose we name it Barbie until it can be identified?.

No because a black and pink "black and pink" butterfly over grassland will be a cinnibar or a burnet moth. It will, honestly ....

harasseddad · #12 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 09:13 PM

Someone just posted this photo:

Take a look at the middle left of teh photo. There's a burnet in flight. See how it looks completely pink in flight?

Dan Salter · #13 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 11:45 PM

I agree with Gill and Dad.

jellytotjade · #14 (**permalink**) 25-07-2009, 05:30 PM

I saw a bright pink butterfly too!

in maidstone kent, not that long ago, when walking down a road it was flying by the bush near the field, it was bright pink no doubt about it! didn't have a black body, wasn't that big! i cant see any relations of the butterfly to the pictures posted on here hmmm

ive searched everyyyy where for it! even on a butterfly site that specialises in identifying species by colour, size, where spotted etc. doesnt seem to think a pure "pink" butterfly exists

sorry to add to the confusion ^^^^ lol

harasseddad · #15 (**permalink**) 25-07-2009, 06:57 PM

Since they're flying at the moment, I thought I'd get a shot of a burnet underwing to show the barbie pink.

Dan Salter · #16 (**permalink**) 26-07-2009, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jellytotjade

I saw a bright pink butterfly too!

in maidstone kent, not that long ago, when walking down a road it was flying by the bush near the field, it was bright pink no doubt about it! didn't have a black body, wasn't that big! i cant see any relations of the butterfly to the pictures posted on here hmmm

ive searched everyyyy where for it! even on a butterfly site that specialises in identifying species by colour, size, where spotted etc. doesnt seem to think a pure "pink" butterfly exists

sorry to add to the confusion ^^^^ lol

Try looking at 'moths' instead of butterflies and you will find cinnabar and burnet

Woodland walker · #17 (**permalink**) 02-07-2009, 11:26 PM

Hi
We were in Norfolk last week and also saw a small, incredibly bright vivid pink butterfly (or moth) - it was quite stunning. I have had a look at the cinnabar moth and the others suggested in the thread, but none have the same vivid pink that we saw. I am very pleased that other people have seen something similar, and now wish that one of the resident experts on this site would see one and then be able to identify it!

Jason Green · #18 (**permalink**) 02-07-2009, 11:54 PM

Another pink butterfly/moth then. Maybe with so many new observations of this, observers could give the actual Grid Ref of the locations. Could be helpful.

Woodland walker · #19 (**permalink**) 03-07-2009, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Another pink butterfly/moth then. Maybe with so many new observations of this, observers could give the actual Grid Ref of the locations. Could be helpful.

Hi
Yes thats a good idea. The grid reference is TG113 407GB - it was on the edge of a clearing in a wood.
thanks

harasseddad · #20 (**permalink**) 07-07-2009, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodland walker

Hi
Yes thats a good idea. The grid reference is TG113 407GB - it was on the edge of a clearing in a wood.
thanks

Blimey! Bodham Wood - that makes it official (I'm County Butterfly Recorder for Norfolk). I'll liase with the Moth Recorder since the moth group ran a light trap nearby at Kelling heath last weekend, and see what they were catching, and I'll try to get out there first chance I get.

Woodland walker · #21 (**permalink**) 07-07-2009, 08:24 AM

Hi

Yes thats right, we were walking from the campsite, through the woods and into Holt. It would have been between 8 and 9am when we saw it, so if you do manage to get out there, then that might be a good time to try - how I wish now that we had had the camera with us!

Thanks