On 28/07/2013 23:25, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-07-28 21:58:39 +0100, Chris Hogg said:

On Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:55:57 +0100, sacha wrote:

On 2013-07-28 08:16:44 +0000, Malcolm said:

In article , Sacha
writes
Presently clinging to our bedroom ceiling is a very small, very pink
moth. It's not one we're familiar with and Ray's attempt to take a
photo of it is defeated by the height of the ceiling and the size of
the moth! I'm not at all sure there are any distinguishing marks on it
but the wings seem to be a slightly deeper pink towards the bottom. I
would think it's about an inch or so long. If anyone has any idea
as to
what it might be we'd be grateful to hear it.

A moth an inch long is not "very small", but quite large!

Is it anything like this?

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=3580

No, not at all, I'm afraid.

Try half an inch perhaps - I'm really bad at judging such things from a
distance. It flew a little lower last night onto a sloping part of our
bedroom ceiling. It's very pink but seemed to have black spots along
the wings, which we couldn't see before. It's now disappeared so I
have no chance of seeing it again, unless it decides to visit. I've
never seen one like it. I suppose it may be a butterfly that wandered
in by accident but all its behaviour leads me to think 'moth'. Ray took
a couple of photos when it was higher up and tomorrow, I'll post them.
But they really are very unclear, so I'm not sure they'll help. It was
the overall 'pinkness' that struck me.

Burnet moths are pinkish-red, mostly with black spots dominating. Some
types have less black than others. See http://tinyurl.com/m7xwpjv,
One of them, the common forester, has quite a lot of colour.
see http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Zygaenidae

Then there's the Ruby Tiger moth, see
http://www.gardenersworld.com/blogs/...moth/4076.html

Elephant Hawk moths are also pinkish, especially the small EHM, see
http://geography.wincoll.ac.uk/jjcsk...240ukmoths.htm and scroll
down about 3/4 of the way.


None of those I'm afraid and Elephant Hawk Moths are far too big for the
one we've seen. Here is a wretchedly poor photo of it but the thready
little spider above may give a scale. The moth was more clearly pinky
coral in colour than the photo shows.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93694401@N03/9386049499/
When that photo was taken it was on the highest part of our bedroom
ceiling, so about 2 or 3' above Ray's upstretched arms and he's about 6'
tall.



If it's any help, the spider near your wallpaper is Pholcus
phalangioides. Still don't recognise the moth. Sorry.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay