Second Hawk-moth of the day.

Tuesday 14th June  2022.

My first Elephant Hawk-moth of the year. 

Up again at 4.45am, I quickly got dressed, glugged down a cup of Orange juice and then made my way into the garden for another check of my moth box. It was a cool start to the morning and with not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind, I started to check the outside of the box. I put the white sheet back up last night behind the box, hoping to attract more moths and when I did a quick check before retiring to bed last night, I had found my first Elephant Hawk-moth of the year to go along with the Hummingbird Hawk-moth I saw earlier that day!

Marbled Minor. 

Beautiful Plume. Though common, I have had just a few this month.  

Thankfully, it was still around this morning, clinging onto the bottom of the white sheet along with a few other moths including a Light Emerald, White Ermine and a Straw Dot among 35 moths of 19 species. The following moths were present this morning:

• 1 Elephant Hawk-moth
• 4 Willow Beauty
• 3 White Ermine
• 1 Straw Dot
• 3 Bright-line Brown-eye
• 2 Riband Wave
• 1 Marbled Minor
• 2 Heart & Dart
• 2 Lime-speck Pug
• 1 Buff Ermine  
• 1 Bee Moth
• 2 Vines Rustic
• 1 Light Emerald
• 3 Common Plume
• 2 Tachystola acroxantha
• 2 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 2 Celypha striana
• 1 Beautiful Plume
• 1 Chrysoteuchia culmella

I have a Buff-tailed Bumble bees nest at the back of my garden and I guess this and another one never made it home last night and spent the night in my moth box!