Humming Bird Moth - in my Garden!!!
I came out my door this morning, looked into the garden and thought.... "What are you?!". There was this mini looking hummingbird, about twice the size of a bubble bee, hovering and sucking nectar from the flowers in my garden!
What on eaarth was it?! I didn't think we had humming birds in this country, so I quickly drove to work and had a look on the internet - this is what I found.
The little creature I saw was called a Humming Bird Moth, and is actually not that rare in the UK - just hard to spot!
"A rare but increasingly regular immigrant is the Hummingbird Hawk-moth, an impressive insect that extends its long proboscis into a flower as it hovers like a Hummingbird in front of it. At 2.5cm in length, this should not be confused with a much smaller bee-fly or even a real hummingbird! Two interesting residents which may be found close to home are the Currant Clearwing, associated with gardens and allotments where currants or gooseberries are grown, and the Red-belted Clearwing, which emerges from old apple trees."
If you want more info about this humming bird moth in the UK, have a look at this BBC website.
If you want some more groovy pics, click here.
What on eaarth was it?! I didn't think we had humming birds in this country, so I quickly drove to work and had a look on the internet - this is what I found.
The little creature I saw was called a Humming Bird Moth, and is actually not that rare in the UK - just hard to spot!
"A rare but increasingly regular immigrant is the Hummingbird Hawk-moth, an impressive insect that extends its long proboscis into a flower as it hovers like a Hummingbird in front of it. At 2.5cm in length, this should not be confused with a much smaller bee-fly or even a real hummingbird! Two interesting residents which may be found close to home are the Currant Clearwing, associated with gardens and allotments where currants or gooseberries are grown, and the Red-belted Clearwing, which emerges from old apple trees."
If you want more info about this humming bird moth in the UK, have a look at this BBC website.
If you want some more groovy pics, click here.
posted by Alistair @ Tuesday, June 22, 2004
2 Comments:
At 3:04 AM,
suzi said…
we have these strange looking creatures in our garden here in virginia in the united states. ours have green, red, and blue coloring on them. great pics on your blog, by the way. thanks!
At 11:27 PM,
Anonymous said…
I have just spotted this odd insect for the first time in my life and when I found your info & picture it has become a great help! I described it as a mini-hummingbird with a moth's body! I thought I was seeing a fake hummingbird. Thank you for your pictures. Sherry in Connecticut, USA.
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