Handful of Hawks

I know it's very unscientific and childlike but I cannot resist the lure of the hawkmoths which come in such numbers in Oxfordshire at this time of the year. Here is my traditional Hand o' Hawks: a Privet (the UK's third largest moth, on my thumb), three Poplars, two Elephants and an Eyed. The second picture shows another Eyed in its full, warning-camouflage magnificence, along with a Lime Hawk in combat fatigues.

The Elephant is one of my top favourites, going back to the days when my brother and I bred them from caterpillars which we found on willowherb which grew in swathes along the banks of Leeds ring road near my childhood home. We had been told that we would almost certainly find them there by John Armitage, the head of natural history at Leeds Museum, who was a kindly and knowledgable inspiration to many young people.  I have always admired his confidence that our caterpillar-hunting would be successful, given the disappointment which children can feel if their hopes are raised but then dashed.  Here are a couple more in the magnificent Millennial Pink:

Finally, just a dash of colour on my own, via my shoes with their excellent rainbow silicone 'laces', here is yet another Eyed Hawk with its Mohican haircut but its eyes largely under forewing wraps.