www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I walk my dogs down an old railway line, its a beautiful place and is always full of butterflies, its very overgrown - grass to my elbow and a very quiet place full of wild flowers. Yesterday about 6pm i seen a butterfly i haven't seen before, it has a bright red body and its wings flew like a hummingbird/bee. I am aware of the hummingbird moth, but no markings match this one. I have attached a picture i took, quality is not amazing. It was quiet small maybe 10-15mm long. Black wings with red on, the main body was bright red, brighter than the markings on the wings. Anyone know what this is? Thanks

Hi,

It's a Burnet Moth. Someone more expert than me will tell you which particular species. See http://ukmoths.org.uk/search.php?entry=burnet

It could be either the common 'Narrow-bordered 5-spot' or the local '5-spot' burnet, depending where you were. But I'm not sure whether anyone could diagnose which it is from the photo. I certainly can't!

Definitely a Burnet Moth, but as others have said, there is more than one variety so hopefully someone else will post the precise ID.

Wing shape suggests a possible New Forest Burnet Zygaena viciae which can have a red band on the abdomen.

M.

We seem to struggling on the detail with this one!

Since you saw the actual insect, I think the best advice is to look at all the adult photos on the link suggested by dilettante, taking into account the recorded locations where each species is is found. Beware of common names - the 'New Forest' Burnet is, according to UKMoths, only found on one hillside in Western Argyll, Scotland!

Mike

For some unfathomable reason I had it in my mind that the photo was taken in France. But where was it taken? New Forest Burnet is of course highly unlikely almost anywhere in the UK, as pointed out by MikeOxon.

M.