Hummingbird Hawkmoths

What's Out Now? >   Hummingbird Hawkmoths >

The roads are all melting, people are inappropriately dressed and nobody wants to sit on a plastic chair.  It seems the 'warm' weather we all wished for in January has arrived.  Anyway it must be summer because the hummingbirds have started to arrive...

At least that's what you'd think from the number of hummingbird sightings we've been receiving by email recently.

In truth you can only find hummingbirds in the Americas.  There have never been any wild hummingbirds found in the UK, but that doesn't stop some folk from thinking they've seen one.

So what do these hummingbirds look like?  Well take a look at this selection of eye-witness descriptions sent in recently...


"The feathers on the wings were bright orange"

"It was drinking nectar from my Geraniums with a long beak."

"It was about 6cm long with black and white tail feathers"

"It had a hummingbird body but with two antennae"

"It looked like a tiny bird with the head of a fish"


See what I mean.  They all think they've seen a hummingbird.  Except for that last guy, who should probably reduce his medication.

You probably know that what they actually saw wasn't a bird, but a type of moth called a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.  In recent years, with our warmer summers there have been many more of these moths arriving here from North Africa and Southern France each summer.  Some years they arrive in their thousands, with people spotting them as far north as the Orkneys.

Some sightings have been as early as March, which suggests they may be spending the winter as adult moths here in the UK.


More info at: UK Safari Hummingbird Hawkmoth Fact File