I think it was September last year when i went out into the garden to fetch some washing off the line and what i presumed was a bee caught my eye. But when i took the time to look, it was not a bee. It moved like a humming bird or some sort of hovering nectar moth. I could also hear it humming. I put down the washing to walk over to it, and it changed flowers. Never landing, it hovered. It was about an inch and a half long, and its wings where beating like a bee's. I was mesmorised and just followed it around the garden... I never got close enough to see it in any detail.

My first thoughts where some sort of nectar drinking hovering moth... but, i thought those are rare tropical insects?

Lost? Any suggestions as to what it could be?

I think hummingbirds come in that size.

I've seen this insect before-- it's too big to be a bee, yet too small to be a hummingbird. I'm pretty sure that it is an insect, though. I don't know how rare it is, I don't see it too often but I do spot one about every other summer.

Is it like a moth? I seen rather huge moths I remember back at school there was a huge white one bigger than a small bird. It was amazing sadly the teachers did nothing to protect it so it was squashed by a fellow student.

Hummingbird Moths

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/advice/hummin...kmoth/index.asp

The ones with transparent wings are also called clearwing moths.


Glass-winged butterfly (no relevance to the thread, but pretty nonetheless)

We have the hummingbird moths here (Nova Scotia, Canada). I really enjoy watching the little fellas. They really do move about like miniature hummingbirds. We get quite a few of them coming around when our lilac tree is in bloom.

That's amazing! What a cool insect! Thanks for sharing!

Those are cool and the gang! Weird, when bird and moth collide!

That moth has quite a strange tail on it. It's very interesting. Beautiful, and interesting. Is that supposed to help it's flight?

I didn't relise you got hummingbird moths in the UK. What a nice find anyway.

Thanx guys.

No problem. I'm here to help.

Another unexplained mystery solved.
How did this make it to.... ?
what?

It's very nice to see another Unexplained Mystery solved
And yes, what a cool insect! I have never seen anything like it! GREAT find!

They are fun to watch. I once took a picture of a hummingbird in my garden, and later found out it was actually a hummingbird moth

What you saw would have been a hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum). They can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere but prefer the warmer parts. But, in the summer, as global warming increases, they are beginning to visit us Brits. I also saw one, Summer 2004 or 2005, in my garden. Feeding off the roses.