Scarce Bordered Straw

Last week, my wife noticed a colourful caterpillar crawling across the lounge floor.  I picked it up and put it outside (I've never been one for rearing caterpillars) where it made a bee-line for some grass/soil and appeared to be trying to dig in, probably to pupate.

I took a photo of it as it was quickly disappearing, the shot shows the back end, the head and part of the front end looked more yellowish.  It didn't look familiar at all, very pink! It was about an inch and a half long and slightly smaller than pencil thickness.

Having failed to identify it, I tweeted it to see if anyone else might know.  The tweet got copied in to Richard Lewington, who suggested it might be one of the colourful forms of Scarce Bordered Straw.  I had already mentioned that it wasn't far from a bunch of flowers from the florist and may be an import.

Adam Bassett
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