B&F: 1984

ABH: 69.010

Status: Migrant.

Distribution and Abundance: Common.

Primary Habitat: General occurrence.

Flight Period: Mainly seen in late summer.

Observations: Numbers vary from year to year but I receive queries about sightings most years. These are prompted by the moth’s exotic appearance whilst hovering and feeding at flowers with its rapid wing beats producing an audible hum. It is usually most active in the late afternoon in hot sunny weather. A moth was observed feeding at flowers in Duston on 30 March 2004 which at the time was the earliest record since 27 March 1946 when a moth was seen in Wellingborough. In the high migration year of 2006 the moth was widespread in the county with the first sighting being on 25 March in Burton Latimer.

L.O.N.: 1907. Many localities. Irregular. Sometimes common.

First Record: 1842, Clark.