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Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Broad Bordered Bee Hawkmoth (Hemaris fuciformis)

Well that is our best identification thanks to Collins guide and an internet search. What is certain is it is the first time I have managed to photograph one as they can only be described as aerial acrobats... They don't half move fast, flitting from flower to flower.


and with such accuracy as these two consecutive pictures show
proboscis right in the middle

Interestingly when we did the ID internet search it showed photographs of the caterpillar, which looked remarkably like this one photographed on our patio back in July. Their preferred plant is wild honeysuckle which we have on a trellis adjacent to where this was found.

It was great to see and photograph and we will be looking out for future visits.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous14 August 2013 at 20:02

    One of those very caterpillars fell on me whilst I was eating a couple of weeks ago. I was most alarmed!

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  2. Susan15 August 2013 at 09:05

    Fabulous pics, super well done! You've been able to speed up the shutter to capture the eponymous broad borders, which I can't do (well only with extreme finerkling) on my camera.

    Your caterpillar is definitely not a BBBHM though. They have spots not stripes. See this picture on UK Moths. All hawk moth caterpillars look fairly similar, but the devil is in the detail.

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