Food for a Moth

We have visited more of this wonderful countryside ending up at the Abbaye de Valmagne - a delightful medieval monastery now renowned for the production of excellent wine (it just has to be sampled!) My Foody Friday contribution to the August Challenge could have been some produce at a local market or us eating this as a picnic within sight of the Abbey or the vineyard with red grapes hanging lusciously from a vine!

I have, though, selected this moth - a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth. One part of the Abbey we toured was the old medieval garden, full of herbs and plants originally used as components of medicines and ointments. One plant was covered with buzzy creatures and I was attracted to a large furry-looking hovering insect which never actually landed on the plant, but hovered with a long pointed proboscis delving into the flowers to get the nectar. It turns out to be a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth - more below on this interesting creature.

Hummingbird Hawk-Moth
The hummingbird hawkmoth is a day-flying moth with a wingspan about two inches (50-58mm). It has a brown, white-spotted abdomen, brown forewings and orange hind wings. It is very swift on the wing and an expert hoverer. The wings beat so rapidly that they produce an audible hum and can be seen only as a haze. It has a darting movement from one flower to the next with a long proboscis looking similar to a hummingbird.

The hummingbird hawk-moth is abundant and resident all around Mediterranean countries, and across Central Asia to Japan. Thousands regularly migrate northward in Europe in the spring. There is also evidence of a re-turn migration in the autumn.

The larva grows up to 60mm in length. It is very colourful with green or reddish brown body with white dots and dark, white and yellow stripes, black spiracles and a blue yellow-tipped horn.

The late summer peak in numbers is largely the result of emergence of locally raised moths. Even though the moths successfully breed in the UK, they are not able to survive the winter (in mild winters, small numbers may overwinter). Therefore, the continuing presence of this remarkable moth is dependent on the annual influx from southern France.

The hummingbird hawk-moth prefers to fly in bright sunlight, but it will also take to wing in dull weather, at dusk or dawn, and sometimes even at night. It is very strongly attracted to flowers that provide a plentiful supply of nectar. It hovers in front of a flower, probes it repeatedly for nectar and then darts to the next flower. It has a remarkably good memory and individuals return to the same flowerbeds every day at about the same time.