Pine hawk-moth


For those of you who visit this blog for a quick, fast-food fix of natural history, here's a picture of a Pine Hawk-moth for you, one of the two-three that I record annually. This morning's was the second this year.

This moth was once considered to be a regular in only Suffolk and Dorset, but by 1907, according to the publication of 'South', it had begun to expand into Hampshire, the Home Counties and Cambridgeshire.  The recent distribution maps show a further expansion over the intervening 100 years - into Norfolk, East Midlands, Humberside and a few extra 'dots' on the edge. For lepidopterists elsewhere in the UK, this would still be a stellar moth!

When I first took an interest in moths, the hawks - and particularly Pine Hawk - were species that I hankered after more than all the others. My first Pine (from the garden MV in 1992) was a very special capture indeed.

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