State of the Nation

[interested1]

Hi there, I am a new member and this is my first post.
I joined whilst looking for somewhere to identify a butterfly/moth I saw in my garden a
couple of days ago and was stuck by its beauty, I have never seen anything like it before
and when I Googled for I/d ideas (sorry for the pun) I found a post from someone wanting to I/d what he thought was a butterfly (as did I) this was about half the size of a cabbagewhite and was black with vibrant pink on its wings. I could not follow up on the reply this person had until I joined which I have duly done and now can't find the post regarding the above.
The person who responded said that it might be a day flying moth and for sure when resting it had wings erect (which on reflection I believe DOES mean it's a moth) but I am a complete newbie at this, the only butterflies I see in my area normally are cabbage whites and Red Admirals which frequent the area which has Buddlias (sp?) in my garden and as far as moths are concerned I can only ever remember seeing brownish sort of colours.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the i/d of the butterfly/moth I saw.
I ran indoors to get my camera when I saw it but of course it had gone when I got back.

[carlj]

Cinnabar moth - red stripes along a black wing. Similar species is the burnet moth. Welcome to WAB!

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by glsammy

Don't worry Jenny, after you've uploaded them to id them, if you don't want to keep them on, you can always ask me and I'll delete them.

OK, will do.

Jenny

[carlj]

Update alert!! Have seen first dragon along river this morning. Of course, it was about 20 feet in the air and zooming away from me, but, definitely a dragon of some form!

[interested1]

Originally Posted by carlj

Cinnabar moth - red stripes along a black wing. Similar species is the burnet moth. Welcome to WAB!

WOW!! I wasn't expecting such a speedy answer to my question, thank you very much for that you could say I was impressed!

Thanks also for your welcome some places I have been have not been so civilised!

[carlj]

Only the title is wild here Oh, and Boddie! Glad you like the site - lot of good people here!

[Paul mabbott]

Have today been out in the wilds of Shirecliff (central Sheffield!) and seen lots of burnets and cinnabars. The "two" species (there are actually several burnets) are really quite different. The cinnabars are usually seen around ragworts where they lay their eggs and, at present, there may be lots of the black-yellow banded caterpillars on these. But the two have quite different appearances: the cinnabar is a 'normal' looking moth whereas the burnets, in flight, look rather like bees - their wings are shorter than their bodies, they tend to 'hover' and dart from flower to flower. To know which species they are you need closer examination .... not easy! Good luck: yes this is a good civilised place!

Originally Posted by interested1

WOW!! I wasn't expecting such a speedy answer to my question, thank you very much for that you could say I was impressed!
Thanks also for your welcome some places I have been have not been so civilised!

[Zeb]

Have seen one around our pond, another of the same (bright blue) at my brother's in Dorset and a plain brown one on Saturday but I can't quite remember where.