Hawking around

Because they are large and because they are often striking and beautiful Hawk moths are among the favourites of most people interested in natural history.

Last night I caught one of my favourite moth, the Small Elephant Hawk-moth. This diminutive moth is the smallest of our common resident Hawk-moths. The fore-wing length of about 21mm is only about 40% of the Privet Hawk-moth below. The Small Elephant does bear a resemblance to its larger relative, the Elephant Hawk-moth, but is only about two thirds the size and lacks the olive green colour on its fore-wings and black on the hind wings. The caterpillars feed mainly on bedstraws, but the adults are attracted to flowers such as Honeysuckle, Red Valerian and Rhododendrons.

The Privet Hawk-moth is large enough to be almost bird like if it flies in the daytime, and is our largest resident Moth.

Cricket - Well done to Kent winning their first 20-20 match of the season, I wish they'd done it with more than one ball to spare, it had me chewing my finger nails, wathcing on the box.