Hummingbirds?? & Wildlife Gardening Tips

 

Hummingbirds??

&

Wildlife Gardening Tips

A regular visitor, always awaited with excited anticipation and a little concern in case it doesn’t turn up ... so fast, so evocative of foreign exotics, so intricately patterned, so extravagantly equipped with kit designed for function... and so unpredictable and transient! Blink and it’s gone! It is the aptly named Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Decades ago, it was the unexpected sight of this insect which prompted me to realise that the neglected jungle of nettles, coarse grass and hogweed which was our newly acquired garden had actually been a bit more... an old bit of meadow. The Hummingbird Hawkmoth (I had never seen such a thing before) was humming about round an accidentally unmown bit which was bedstraw. This is the main food plant of its caterpillars – Lady’s Bedstraw (small, filmy thin leaves, yellow flowers) and Hedge Bedstraw (taller, thicker greener leaves, white flowers). This was special... and so our mini meadows began.

It is a sudden dramatic presence


- bright eyes dark and large, black and white chequerboard ‘tail’, wings a smudge of vibrating orange, whirring in a blur, just like a hummingbird. It is hovering, stationary as if fixed, wings beating at 70-80 beats per second, way beyond the capabilities of our visual perception.


The black scroll in front of the head here


 is equally incredible. Longer than its body, this tongue unfurls and is meticulously placed on target deep inside the flower’s nectary, drinks for a split second, then, in one decisive movement abruptly shifts to the next flower. It never settles – moving methodically from flower to flower with robotic precision and amazing body positioning as it hangs in mid-air

The irresistible nectar here is the Soapwort flower, so beloved by butterflies (see last post).


Just seeing this day-flying moth at all is a miracle as visits can be just 10 seconds. The probability of being near the moth’s chosen rendez-vous is slight! Its transience and the uncertainty of timing adds to the excitement and the marvel of its regular reappearance from warmer climes – Southern Europe and North Africa - every year.


The Hawkmoths are a very special group – all dramatic in appearance and easy to recognise. They have muscular bodies, large and stout – they look strong. They all have narrow front wings which have very acute angles, delta style.


Wildlife Gardening Tips: To attract this wondrous creature, plant nectar flowers with long tubular structure. This year I have seen them on Rose Campion, Lavender, Alstroemeria, and, completing the full circle... in one of our mini meadows inspecting hedge bedstraw! Often, its feeding attention is all on the Phlox and Soapwort (for this flower, see last post).


A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of seeing another hawkmoth in our garden... the incredible Poplar Hawkmoth


. There are poplars just beyond our garden. Plant poplar, aspen, sallow or willow – foods of their caterpillars - and you may see one!


We have seen the Elephant Hawkmoth in the past feeding in the evening on honeysuckle. That moth really is a stunner –


 strangely resembling the colour of the flowers of one of the caterpillar’s food plants – the willowherb family -

 Great Willowherb – bright pink and olive green! The other caterpillar feed besides bedstraws is Enchanter’s Nightshade... but keep it in check!


Don’t forget to save the seeds and plants in your walls + check out indoor autumn meetings for your diary – Why and When... see previous posts!














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