It baffles me sometimes when I hear people take about wildlife, particularly insects. They are often very selective about which groups of insects they like.
"I like Bees because they are cute and fluffy, but Wasps are evil!"
Yet when you actually take a closer look at them, bees and wasps are both from the same group: Hymenoptera, which means they are actually very closely related.
The same goes for Butterflies and Moths. Lots of people love Butterflies and hate Moths, even though again they are in the same taxonomic group: Lepidoptera. This is because they both have scales on their wings (which are actually modified hairs which actually gives them the name scale-wings (lepidos=scale, ptera=wing).
And then they say butterflies are beautiful and moths are brown and boring. Which to me just shows they have never looked at moths before, and so here are an assortment of extravagant moths just to prove a point!
Elephant Hawkmoth - Deilephila elpenor
Surely nothing that is Olive green and flourescent pink can be considered boring...?
Large Emerald - Geometra papilionaria
Magpie Moth - Abraxas grossulariata
Grass Moth - Catoptria pinella
(even the tiny little micro-moths are gorgeous too!)