Small bright pink butterfly

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Lauren87
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2016 6:16 am

Small bright pink butterfly

Post by Lauren87 »

It was small and a very vibrant pink, and the very tips of its wings were purple. I looked online, and I'm even more intrigued to find what it is because on a few sites I have read that pink butterflies aren't native to the UK! Unfortunately I don't have a picture as I spotted this in my garden whilst I was bringing the washing in.
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Trev Sawyer
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Joined: Sun May 07, 2006 8:37 am
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: Small bright pink butterfly

Post by Trev Sawyer »

Hi Lauren,
There are a few day-flying moths on the wing at the moment and they often confuse people. I would imagine your little butterfly could have been a Cinnabar moth (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar_moth ). They actually appear much more pink in real life than those photos suggest. Does that look like what you saw I wonder?

Trev
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MikeOxon
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Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 2:06 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Small bright pink butterfly

Post by MikeOxon »

One possibility is the day-flying moth Pyrausta aurata, also known as the 'Mint Moth', or the similar P.purpuralis. These are very small and can look bright pink in sunshine. There's a photo at the bottom of this page on my website: http://home.btconnect.com/mike.flemming/butterfl.htm or try Google Images.

Mike
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