Hummingbird Hawk-moth
Macroglossum stellatarum
Hummingbird Hawk-moth · Bordeaux and the surrounding area · 8 May 2026
A Hummingbird Hawk-moth hovering at red valerian outside Bordeaux, the long proboscis fully uncurled and the wings a blur fast enough to genuinely mimic a hummingbird. A day-flying moth found across Europe and Asia, and a migrant, moving north from the Mediterranean each summer as far as Britain.
Unusually for a moth, it can form and hold long-term memories of which flowers in a given patch are worth returning to, and it comes back to the same valerian at the same time each day. It is also the moth most often reported to British wildlife hotlines as a hummingbird.
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