pink butterfly??

[sb003]

I now know that the 'butterfly' that i saw was definitely a cinnebar moth. I saw another one yesterday and took some pics. Although to the eye, the wings appears to have a fluorescent pink colour, they come out red on photographs exactly as above. The underwings are a pure pink colour which shows more when the moth is flying or when resting in windy conditions (as yesterday). Difficult to capture the effect of this on a still photograph.

It is a very delicate and pretty moth so looks like a butterfly on first sighting. I have never seen one before until this 'summer' and now I have seen two. Maybe the Cinnebar Moth likes incessant rain and damp...

[Lonewolf]

That's great! For you!

The one I saw was no moth!

It didn't have that aeroplane shape nor the same colours and it was not raining on the day...

It was a BUTTERFLY and was PINK!

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I'm sorry to dampen any thoughts of Pink Butterfies, but there are no pink butterflies in Europe So i'm afraid it must have been a moth, moths don't all look the same, some look very butterfly like in appearance

[colinaj]

Many whites var Helicidae can show bright yellow to Pink as mentioned in the New Naturalists Butterflies book

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly

moths don't all look the same, some look very butterfly like in appearance

And vice-versa! A couple of weeks ago I photographed something that I was convinced was a moth and spent a fruitless few hours searching through the more than 500 moth species illustrated in "Complete British Insects" before giving up. A few days later I was flicking through the butterfly pages and there it was - large skipper. (I know, I know, but I'm a complete beginner when it comes to Lepidoptera )

Quote from page 28 of the book: "There is no single difference between all butterflies on the one hand and all moths on the other and the division has no scientific basis. As far as the British species are concerned, however, the form of the antennae is a good guide: all our butterflies have clubbed antennae, although the club is not always well developed, whereas the majority of moths have hairlike or feathery antennae."

Dave P.

[AnnaCas]

I am in agreement with Lonewolf - having studied the Cinnabar photos, I really don't think it was one of those. It really was a very bright, almost unatural, Barbie pink.

[Linda]

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!Had no idea moths could be so beautiful!Can`t understand why I`ve never seen them before.

[Ukwildlifeo]

I thought I saw this pink butterfly this weekend but it turned out to be a painted lady with is marking faded (probaly a migrant from N. Africa/ S Europe). It wasn't really a barbie pink, more of a light pink in colour so I'm not sure it could be your pink butterfly

[helen253]

Hello everyone...like a couple of other people here, I did a search for "pink butterfly" and ended up here!

I live in NE UK, quite near the coast, 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. The butterfly or moth 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. Of course, by the time I got my camera out of the car, it had flown away...I've searched for a couple of hours for images matching the one I saw on various sites but to no avail...if anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

[colinaj]

Large Elephant Hawkmoth or Privet Hawkmoth,

Let's hope someone gets a photograph one day