Hawkmoths 

Many people think of moths as rather boring little brown jobs that are a nuisance when they flutter around lights and charge headlong into candle flames – or even worse your gin and tonic! At best they are there to provide food for Bats and at worst our clothes are there to provide food for them! However, try taking a closer look this summer, yes some are brown and rather non- descript, but many are spectacular – especially the “Hawkmoth” family.

There are 17 species of Hawkmoth which occur in England, 9 are resident and 8 are migrants. This fact may surprise you in itself that many moths fly up from France, Spain and even North Africa to spend part of the summer within our shores. Hawkmoths are large and often brightly coloured insects, the bigger ones measuring 50 to 60 mm in length and their caterpillars growing to an incredible 100 - 130mm.

The Latin name for the Hawkmoth family is Sphingidae and this refers to the sphinx-like attitude that some of the caterpillars adopt when frightened or alarmed – where the head and thorax rear up, some even have coloured “eyes” to ward off predators. The other tell-tale sign of a hawkmoth caterpillar is that it has a “hook” at the tail end.  

The most common species to be found are the Poplar, Privet and Elephant Hawkmoths, the first two named after the caterpillar’s food plant, the latter because of the extraordinary way the caterpillar can swell its thorax and “eyes” to resemble, yes, an elephant! Once you have seen an Elephant Hawkmoth adult, you will never ever call moths “boring little brown jobs” again. They have pink and olive-green forewings and pink and black hindwings, which creates an insect that you would imagine exists in an Equatorial forest rather than the UK. Although these three moths are probably the most common around here, there is one which you are more likely to see, as it flies during the day time.

The migrant Humming Bird Hawkmoth is well named as it looks just like a little Humming bird, darting from plant to plant where it then hovers, feeding on the nectar. One of the main reasons I grow Red Valerian is to attract this species as it is a particular favourite for it to nectar on, others being Jasmine, Lobelia, Petunia, Honeysuckle and Buddleias. Whenever I see this wonderful moth, I always feel rather up-lifted to think that it has travelled from the Mediterranean region to feed in my garden, so I was interested to find out that many Europeans (especially the Italians and Maltese) believe that it is a messenger of good tidings. There is a lovely story of a “swarm” of these moths being spotted flying over the channel, headed to England from France on D-day 1944, and all those who saw them returned safely to tell the tale.

The summer of 2004 saw particularly good numbers of these moths in our gardens all summer and even in a poor year I would expect to see at least one or two – so keep those eyes peeled!

The “king” of British Hawkmoths must however be the Death’s Head Hawkmoth – so called because of the skull and cross bones marking on its thorax – as portrayed in the film “Silence of the lambs”. This is our largest Hawkmoth and when disturbed makes an audible squeaking sound and has been known to visit wild bee nests to feed on the honey, the same squeaking noise apparently calming the bees. The food plant of this species is rather bizarrely, potatoes. Now you surely can’t call that a boring dull moth!!              

Peter Thompson
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