This is a rare Striped Hawk-moth Hyles livornica —

It’s a migrant that visits in summer but cannot survive our winters, preferring the Mediterranean and Africa. Not often seen in the UK; 2006 was a good year when 383 were spotted mainly in the South and South-west England. That was when the last one was spotted in Montgomeryshire, when one came as far as Welshpool… Until a day or two ago when we caught this one in our trap in the Trannon Valley of Mid-Wales.

Their caterpillars like to eat Rosebay Willow Herb, of which we have tons, although rapidly dying down now, and the moths will drink nectar from a wide range of flowers especially Red Valerian but even if this one could find a mate, their chances of breeding successfully are remote.

Hummingbird Hawk-mothBy Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76891220 Does anyone recognise it?

We are told that there are Hummingbird Hawk-moths in nearby Trefeglwys, a much more common visitor, although we haven’t spotted one this year — they are obvious because they fly by day and you think you have seen a Hummingbird! Evidently they are omens of good things to come — I do hope so!

We’ve had a cooler day, the Painted Ladies have disappeared as has the solitary Clouded Yellow butterfly.