Hummingbird hawk-moth on Salvia sclarea
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
Macroglossum stellatarum
Silent Sunday: Hummingbird Hawk-Moth
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
Macroglossum stellatarum
Words and Herbs 
Amazing photos.
Thanks Jude!
Great capture Cathy. I feel like I’m right there seeing it. I have only rarely seen one of these and not for years.
Last year I saw one, but this year there are a few regular visitors. Lovely to hear them whirring past my ear while working in the garden!
Great photos Cathy
Thank you Aletta. 😃
Well done for capturing this so well! I saw one on my Verbena but it was gone before I could get my camera. Did you lie in wait?
I haven’t had to wait this year as there are several visiting daily. 😃
I love those moths, although I’ve only seen them in my own garden one summer. My Salvia sclarea isn’t handling our drought well.
They are our equivalent to hummingbirds – it is lovely to see them and I grow plants they like. 😃
Nice shots, Cathy. I just read that the larval host plants are Galium (Sweet Woodruff) … do you grow that?
Hi Eliza. That is good to hear as we have loads and loads of it growing just outside our fence, and a little in the meadow too. 😃
Wonderful photos Cathy.
Thanks Susie!
Great capture! Amelia
Thanks Amelia! We have quite a few around every day now. 😃
Well done for your brilliant photos ! I don’t think I’d manage to do that although we do have have quite a lot of these moths buzzing around our flowers. There’s a plant that is lethal for them “oenothera speciosa siskiyou” because they get their long proboscis trapped in the flowers and can’t escape. I was planning to get some of these pretty pink-flowered plants for the garden due to their resistance to drought but gave up the idea when I read this. Sorry for this rather morbid end to my comment !
Oh Judith, that is terrible! I must write to my nursery as they sell it – I think it should not be sold if it is such a lethal trap. I did grow it once, but it didn’t come back a second year for which I am now thankful. I am so glad you told me about it as I love these little creatures!