Burnet Moths

We had noticed the other day, when walking along the path beside the sea where we found the duckling, that what appeared to be a large bee flying fast and low above the meadow grasses seemed to have a very un-bee-like bright red coloration and suspected that it might be a burnet moth. However, it wasn't until yesterday that....

....I managed to get a photograph of one. Sadly, the opportunity was brief and the burnet insisted on hanging upside down, which made identification, which is largely based on wing spots, impossible.

However, later in the walk, in increasingly breezy and cloudy conditions, we came across one which looked as if it had crash-landed.

While it was still very much alive it didn't, or couldn't, fly away so I gently picked it up.

At first sight it appears to be a five-spot burnet but this only occurs in England and Wales. It could be the narrow-bordered five-spot, which does extend into Scotland, but not this far north, and it's not the slender scotch burnet which is only found on the west coast on and around Mull.

One possibility is that it's the scotch burnet but this is described as occurring in mountainous areas and appears to be very rare; further, its rear spot is small. So it's most likely that this is a much more common six-spot with the rear two spots fused, something which isn't unusual. It's a bit disappointing as I had hoped for a new species - we have seen six-spot burnets in both Ardnamurchan and Felixstowe - but.... well, it's always good to see an old friend.