guernsey butterfly

[robfoss]

Hi. First time post here, so I hope I don't make any mistakes.

I saw a butterfly here yesterday which is new to me -looking for any advice on how to i.d. it please.

20-25mm long, bright red -scarlet even -upper half of the wing, jet black lower half of the wing in a 50-50 split. Really dazzling red, very noticeable. I've been outside all my life and have never seen one before. I've looked at every reference book and site I can find, and cannot see anything even remotely similar. One of those moments when you wish you had a camera with you.

Thanks in advance, and congrats to admin on a very tidy site.

rob

[thepostieles]

hi rob, u live nr butterfly house?might be an escapee

[Padfield]

The description rings no bells for me, even thinking of non-British/European butterflies.

What do you mean by 20-25mm long? Could you estimate the wingspan, perhaps, or the length of the forewing?

The nearest thing I can think of, though it's not what you describe because the red and black are the other way round, is the cinnabar moth:



(That picture linked from here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8291616@N08/2573665906, with copyright to that site, not to me!!)

Maybe you coud say what is similar or different about yours, to give us a guide.

Guy

[dragonia]

Hi, I live in South Manchester and I had one of these butterflies/ moths in my garden last week. I widh I'd taken a photograph of ot, as it definately wasn't a cinnibar. It's wings were bright crimson red edged with jet black, there were no other markings on the wing, just this large striped effect. It's body and legs were black. Has anyone else seen one.

[robfoss]

If anything, that red on the cinnabar is too dull! This was scarlet! Wing proportions are spot-on though. Three of us chased it around for 5 minutes before it went over a hedge into an inaccessible field, and we all agreed red top, black below, no visible flecks or stripes -although it was hard to see it properly where it was. Yep, body and legs as black as the lower wings. 20mm total wing length, maybe a lttle less and 25mm wingspan...again approx. Looking at the photo, I reckon the upper wings came further down the body with the lower wing being smaller in proportion....ooooooh for a camera and a time machine!

Thanks for answering guys. I've been an outdoor type all my life (I was a gamekeeper for a while) and it really has me stumped. I don't know of any butterfly houses on Guernsey at all. It had been warm with some odd directional winds, so I guess it blew in from somewhere afar.

[Padfield]

ooooooh for a camera and a time machine!

I guess if we had time machines we wouldn't need cameras...

Guy

[Hamearis]

Nah yor Time Machine is no good cos you just stay same place with difrent times.
You need a mashine what dos distance as well.
I would call it
Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.
or somehting like that

Ham

[robfoss]

To be honest, if I had a time machine, a butterfly would only be of interest if it flew into a bookies.......

[Bill S]

To be honest, if I had a time machine, a butterfly would only be of interest if it flew into a bookies.......

What are the odds of that...?

[Trev Sawyer]

How about a day-flying burnet moth of some kind...
As well as the usual 6-spotted and 5-spotted, sometimes you get ones where the spots blur into one to form a solid red part like this:

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4735