In article , brimon
writes
I have just been watching a hummingbird hawk moth feeding on the bright red
flowers on my pelagoniums
just beside me on the patio. It went from flower to flower putting its
incredibly long proboscis right into
the flower to feed off the nectar and then moving very quickly to the next
plant.
I have never seen anything like it here in UK.
It was a very sunny afternoon in Cheshire - is this yet another example of
climate change or is this not as rare
as I thought.
There is a short video of the moth in action on
http://people.freenet.de/jfeldhusen/..._Hawk_Moth.htm

I hope this is not considered off topic but would like to hear if this was a
rare sighting.

They are a migrant from across the Channel and turn up every year, but
like other such moths and butterflies, in varying numbers. There has
been a lot of publicity recently (even made the R4 Today programme)
about an invasion of Painted Lady butterflies in the last few weeks. If
they are moving in numbers, one would expect other species to come with
them. There was quite an invasion of the hawk moths in 2000, with plenty
of records from Scotland.

It is probably a bit early to invoke climate change. One of the
largest-ever invasions of Hummingbird Hawk Moths was in 1947 - notable
for being a marvellous summer (after an appalling winter), but before
the term 'climate change' had been invented, I suspect.

The driving force will probably be large numbers being bred in their
natural range in the southern half of France, coupled with good
migrating weather with southerly winds.

--
Malcolm