Hey everyone! I’m an amateur photographer based in London and something that has been on my list for a while are hummingbird hawk moths. If you don’t know what they are they look like this – essentially they’re moths that mimic hummingbirds.

Now from what I’ve read they common in the south/southeast of England from spring till summer – however if any of you have information I would love to hear some specific spots which are good for them since I can’t find anything online. Any help would be much appreciated!

by SpicyLunaDog99

31 comments

  4. Have had them in my West Sussex garden the last two years running

  5. Unfortunately there’s no guaranteed place. They’re summer migrants and are only flying between May and September.

    Some years they’re pretty common, other years not. They’re more regularly seen further south, because that’s closer to where they migrate from.

    They prefer gardens and parks with honeysuckle or red valerian, but also buddleia, jasmine and verbena flowers. In good years, they can be found in pretty much any garden.

    I don’t think you can predict where they’ll be.

  7. Can say with certainty in my 35 years of life on this earth, 28 of which have been spent in Scotland, I’ve never seen one of those bad boys in the flesh sadly.

    Edit: apologies, thought this was the Scotland subreddit!

  8. More than 2 visits to our garden on the Sussex coast last summer.

  9. Try somewhere with lots of buddleia bushes, they love those in my experience. I saw my first one a couple years ago. Didn’t even know they existed before then. Was quite exciting for boring ole me.

  10. I get them in my back garden all the time. I’m in Norfolk. Buddleia and lavender seem to be their favourite.

  11. I think it’s convergent evolution rather than mimicry.

    You get tons of them here in summer …in northern Switzerland. Not that that is very helpful for you!

  12. Had one around wisteria/buddleia in my garden last summer – maybe look out for them there!

  14. I’m in Portsmouth and one turned up in my garden in late September, couldn’t believe my luck.

  15. Coastal north Devon is a good place to see them. I regularly pick up and relocate their caterpillars from the paths around where I work.

  16. I am in Lancashire and I saw one last year, around late August in my garden feeding off a Clematis.

  17. Had some on the Kent coast. They liked my Abelia shrub that was in flower. They spent ages there. 

  18. I live on the Isle of Wight and saw one of these fellas last year.

    Fun story, it flew into my bedroom and landed on the floor. I glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye and thought it was some kind of mad, tropical hornet that had flown in with the sole intention of stinging my two small children. So I was a rational adult and screamed “Get out of the room!” to my 4 year old as I scooped up my 1 year old and ran for it. Luckily my husband IS a rational adult and helped the moth safely out of the room whilst explaining to our son that it wasn’t going to hurt him.

    Anyway, my son is now terrified of moths.

  20. I live near Tring and get them in my garden every year. They love lavender.
    Whilst most are migrants, I believe that they have become resident along the South Coast.
    PM me and I’d happily have you visit to see them. You can get quite close to them without disturbing them as long as you don’t make sudden movements.

  23. West Sussex, see in the garden most summers. Although usually only see one at a time so I think you’d have to be lucky if you specifically go hunting. As others have said, the honeysuckle was the most popular but also goes for verbena bonariensis.

    I would guess Kew or Wakehurst would be good bets when their summer borders and meadows are in full flow.

  24. I saw one on my buddleia last summer in North Warwickshire, I didn’t think they came this far north.

  25. I saw one in Suffolk. It was so cool it just flew next to me and I could hear its wings flapping!

  26. All I can tell you is that one flew at my face and scared the shit out of me because I didn’t know what it was! That was in Brighton. Only ever seen them the once though so def not a guaranteed sighting area

  27. As you are London take a trip to Hampshire, South Downs area. I get them most days in the garden in summer. Good luck with photographing them, they are quick and tiny!

  28. I’ve seen them in Worcestershire. Depends if you consider that south though.

  29. I’ve seen them in a few places in Sussex over the years. Mostly on the south downs and nature reserves and particularly slightly in from the coast – burgess hill, Haywards Heath, Hassocks etc. 

    Also local gardens. Borde Hill. Wakehurst. Etc.

  30. I live in South East London (Zone 2 so not exactly rural!) and saw one last year in the garden feeding off a plant that looks a lot like the one in the pic. Beautiful! Really hope I see one again this year.

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