Hawkish haul

The hawk moths are proving wonderfully long-lived this blissful summer, as indeed are moths of all sorts (not to mention the caterpillars both at our central nursery and at its franchise outlets. The little Emperors kindly fostered into plump little fellows by a kind neighbour and her excellently naturalist children have all formed cocoons and should now sleep peacefully until March when they will emerge to start their brief lives as adult insects.

My first picture shows last night's hawk moth party - Pine, Privet, Poplar and Elephant. I was specially pleased to see the Pine Hawk, a favourite because of its sleek and purposeful look, and this one was a notable exception to the species' usual tendency to get very jittery soon after being disturbed of a morning. It clung tenaciously to me after the photo session and took quite some decanting into the depths of a protective hedge.

Here are more individual pics of the hawks, the Poplar with a nice Miller moth and the Pine beside a type of beetle which was in the trap in vast numbers, scrambling chaotically all over the place, regardless of whether moths were in their path. This set the whole place into a spin but there were too many moths for me to manage anyway, so goodness knows what I have missed. I know that a Blackneck got away without being photographed the other morning and I think also a Purple Bar.

Lovely, however, to see that strange insect the Leopard Moth with its partly translucent wings, a fresh Common or Lesser Common Rustic and what I think is a rather battered Nut-tree Tussock but am not sure about that (and in too much of a rush to complete checks now; help appreciated, as always).

Here's a Poplar Grey, that lovely moth the Coronet, a Least Carpet, a Single-dotted Wave (how mis-named, as I have often remarked!) and a Clay with its mean-looking Eye. Finally, here are those pesky beetles again, making a beetle-line for my mystery moth.