Shock as mutant pink grasshopper discovered in garden in Foxhill, Sheffield

Stunned Kay Rowland says she stared in disbelief when she first saw one of the rare and beautiful creatures, which some experts say most people never see in their lifetime

And she said it was only by pure chance that she stumbled across them in her garden in Fox Hill. Kay told The Star: “It was by pure chance it was discovered. My friend was round to fix my fencing and as he walked down the garden he spotted something jumping so we took a closer look and there it was – a pink grasshopper.

“We took it up to the patio and just sat and stared at it in disbelief. We went back down the garden and discovered there were several more of them.”

A similar grasshopper was recently reported in North Wales.

Experts believe the pink insects are a mutation of the green meadow grasshopper – a species which is common in the UK, but is usually green, brown or a bit of both. But they think sometimes, a genetic mutation causes them to turn pink.

But their bright colour can mean that they do not survive very long as predators can see them more easily than the more camouflaged green and brown ones, making them rarer.

Paul Hetherington, of conservation charity Buglife, recently told the BBC that pink grasshoppers are caused by a recessive gene that can be passed through successive generations, which causes too much red pigment and not enough black, adding that being pink in the wild was “not useful” for the insect as they stand out from the green grass.

Some experts have tried to describe how rare they are by saying people have a one per cent chance of encountering them, but Mr Hetherington said this is only true if you're not actively looking.

“If you look closely for them in any meadow, the chances of seeing them are actually very high,” he said, adding that he has in fact seen three himself.

“It's amazing to see the beauty of the creatures being appreciated,” he added. “They are just wonderful.”