On 2013-08-16 16:56:16 +0100, Malcolm said:

In article , Sacha
writes
Two of the nursery team saw a very large butterfly yesterday and I hope
one of them got a photo with her mobile phone! Apparently, it was long
and kind of narrow (Spitefire aeroplane shape was the description) and
its wings were wider than a Dahlia flower, though I couldn't tell you
which one! The background of the wings is dark and 'somewhere' on them
are two white stripes and there is an orange outline on the body that
is in itself, butterfly shaped. Ray has described it to me as it was
described to him, he didn't see it. I suspect an escapee from
Buckfastleigh Butterfly Farm but if anyone has other ideas, or indeed,
any ideas at all, we'd be very grateful to hear them. If it is an
escapee, sad to say, it probably won't survive to lay eggs here or the
eggs won't survive.

The only aeroplane-shaped insects I know of are the hawkmoths. And size
is so difficult to judge, not least because Dahlias come in all
different sizes, from an inch to several inches across.

You can find all the hawkmoths on the ukmoths.org.uk website.

If your local butterfly farm is any good at what they do, then they
won't have escapes. Phone them and ask.

Or how about Tiger Moth?

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=2057

I've just talked to one of the girls - not the one with the photo,
unfortunately. She said definitely long and narrow, sort of Spitfire
shape, dark background, orange butterfly shape in the middle and two
white bits at the end of the wings. So I think an escapee is the most
likely. The Butterfly Farm is too big to be aware of one escaping
butterfly. But if someone is a bit slow going through the barrier
strips and holds those and the door open it would be too easy for a
butterfly to escape. It's a popular local attraction and a lot of
people go through there daily. Anyway, I hope that next Wednesday,
we'll see a photo of it and might get a better idea.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk