On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 18:26:53 +0100, brimon wrote:

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.

Where I live in Austria they are uncommon but can be seen in the right
places. This year there are loads buzzing about the flowers. It does seem
to be a bumper year. The late spring, followed by a very early summer might
have been the reason. I'm sure that there would be a lot more in other
places too. They pupate in the topsoil. Tim.