This morning we had a hummingbird hawk-moth visit our
garden. It was hovering around the blue flowers of a hardy plumbago plant. I
have seen them in previous years but never so late as this & they’re
normally attracted to the flowers of either buddleia or red valerian. The
flowers of the latter are virtually finished now & the hardy plumbago is
one of the few plants still produclng reasonably nectar-rich flowers this late
in the season.
Hummingbird hawkmoths chiefly inhabit the Mediterranean area
but each spring a number of them migrate northwards to the UK. They normally
arrive from early June onwards & some remain to breed. They lay their eggs
on either bedstraws or wild madder but occasionally, have been known to lay
them on red valerian, The cycle from egg to adult moth is around 8 weeks. In
late summer the majority of the adults return to the Mediterranean but a few
individuals attempt to overwinter here. The majority will not survive the cold
but in recent years with climate change leading to milder winters an increasing
number of these attractive moths are making it through to re-emerge in the
spring. I hope our visitor will be one of them.
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