Sorry, but no pic.
It looked like a large ( (4 to 5 cm long, body bit at least half a
centimetre thick)
fat butterfly, except mostly pink with yellowish bits.
Its wings were a bit strange in so far as they were like flaps of
velvet, turned and twisted as if folded over according to whatever
position movement left them in.

It's possible my description is insufficient, but I only got to see
this creature for a few minutes. I've never seen anything like it and
I'm just curious.
It was next to a pond and at first I thought it was just a fallen leaf
with something like peach-curl.

Elephant Hawk Moth?
Emperor Moth?

These things tricky to identify even when you have seen them! The "pink"
idea suggests moth to me but I'm just looking at a book and will no doubt be
proved wrong by a nexpert shortly.

Sue W.

--
Derby, England.

Don't try to email me using "REPLY" as the email address is NoSpam. Our
email address is "thewoodies2 at ntlworld dot com"


"a.c." wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry, but no pic.
It looked like a large ( (4 to 5 cm long, body bit at least half a
centimetre thick)
fat butterfly, except mostly pink with yellowish bits.
Its wings were a bit strange in so far as they were like flaps of
velvet, turned and twisted as if folded over according to whatever
position movement left them in.

It's possible my description is insufficient, but I only got to see
this creature for a few minutes. I've never seen anything like it and
I'm just curious.
It was next to a pond and at first I thought it was just a fallen leaf
with something like peach-curl.

Malcolm wrote:
In article , Sue
writes
Elephant Hawk Moth?
Emperor Moth?

These things tricky to identify even when you have seen them! The "pink"
idea suggests moth to me but I'm just looking at a book and will no doubt be
proved wrong by a nexpert shortly.

I'm not sure if I'm a "nexpert", but have a look at:

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/moth1.htm

--
Malcolm

Brilliant!
Thank you both.
What I was looking for was a sort of easy to... insect recognition
guide.... a bit like one of those tree identification books that start
of with, say, Is the leaf round or oval.?.. etc.
What I did was put "pink butterfly" into a search engine, and no doubt
you wont be toooo surprised that I got heaps of pages that had nowt to
do with butterflies (or moths)

"a.c." wrote in message

Brilliant!
Thank you both.
What I was looking for was a sort of easy to... insect recognition
guide.... a bit like one of those tree identification books that start
of with, say, Is the leaf round or oval.?.. etc.
What I did was put "pink butterfly" into a search engine, and no doubt
you wont be toooo surprised that I got heaps of pages that had nowt to
do with butterflies (or moths)

http://ukmoths.org.uk/thumbnail.php

try this one for future identificaitons

Space wrote:
"a.c." wrote in message

Brilliant!
Thank you both.
What I was looking for was a sort of easy to... insect recognition
guide.... a bit like one of those tree identification books that start
of with, say, Is the leaf round or oval.?.. etc.
What I did was put "pink butterfly" into a search engine, and no doubt
you wont be toooo surprised that I got heaps of pages that had nowt to
do with butterflies (or moths)

http://ukmoths.org.uk/thumbnail.php

try this one for future identificaitons

wow, ta.
Has anyone got a general id finder. I'm now in Belgium and regularly
see creatures I'm at a complete loss to identify.

Have a look at www.dk.com.

We have their rather fine photographic Guide to Butterflies and Moths of
Britain and NWEurope.

Sue W.

--
Derby, England.

Don't try to email me using "REPLY" as the email address is NoSpam. Our
email address is "thewoodies2 at ntlworld dot com"

a.c.wrote


..
Has anyone got a general id finder. I'm now in Belgium and regularly
see creatures I'm at a complete loss to identify.