By some distance, one of the most exhilarating and exotic sights in the garden this year has been the delightful Hummingbird hawk-moth! Hailing from warm places such as North Africa, they are a surprisingly hardy bunch and will be active on cool mornings when others (my blasted honeybees for example!) are still on their backs snoring loudly! Some weeks ago we had several of these beautiful blighters mooching about, feeding mostly on V. bon, the hardy Salvia microphylla and the splendid thistle Berkheya purpurea. That was in July, but then things took a turn for the un-exotic as the hummers disappeared! Where to, who knows, but I’m cheered to report that as of this week they’re back on the scene and now feeding mostly on Ceratostigma willmottianum, a bona fide border classic for late-summer colour. Unfortunately, my camera is really not up to scratch when it comes to capturing this humming beauty, as you see these things move at such incredible speeds! Thankfully a camera with assorted ‘bells & whistles’ is available for garden staff to use on the property, so after loaning this I now at least have some suitable images to justify this wittering on. Behold; the Hummingbird hawk-moth!
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| Our exotic friend in action |
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| Here you can clearly see why the amateur photographer is so up against it. Slow down a moment please old boy! |
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| You really must click on this one to enlarge it (eye eye captain)! |
