Huge moth

[Toddy]

I spotted something that looked like a demented wee bird fluttering furiously around the garden. It started off under the Rowan tree where the bird feeder sits and then ended up on the shady path under the hedge.
I went for a look, and realised that it was a huge, winged insect that seemed too mothy for my peace of mind. So, I called on HWMBLT to come with a camera and take some photos.
Turns out it was a hummingbird moth, never before seen here, and it had a wasp on it's back stinging it for all that it was worth.
Eventually the moth managed to scrape the wasp off, and it flew away across the street and into the trees.
It might well be a moth, but it flew like a bird, not a butterfly.
Scale is hard to judge but those are standard sized pavers and it was as big as a coaltit but with much longer wings.

 

[bopdude]

That is a size, and a sight to see I bet

 

[Toddy]

It was indeed, especially since I'm not fond of fluttery things
You can see the wasp on the moth's back in the middle photo, and the pavers are in the ground on end to try to keep the chipped bark tidy (pigeons are a pest!) for an idea of just how big it was.

M

 

[sunndog]

The wasp gives a good idea of scale.....son of mothra i think

 

[Tengu]

Thats a huge moth, did you fly to the moon on it, like Dr Doolittle?

 

[Toddy]

Me ? Moth ??? you jest !

It was so big that it didn't seem like a moth, it seemed somehow more hornet like, iimmc.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Saturnidae moths. Many species pupate in the leaf litter so the appearance makes sense.
The wasp is a surprise. Attack by a parasitic form, sure. But agreed, that looks like a common wasp (Vespidae?)

Just out of curiosity, what have you got right now for big, showy, conspicuous flowers? Might be evening attractors.

 

[Toddy]

I'm told that they feed on lady's bedstraw. Those are small and pretty, but insignificant, flowers that ramble up through other plants. I grow some in a corner of the garden, where they tangle up through a low growing quince, for the madder type red dye from their roots. It was the origin of the red colour in our cheddar cheese.
I also grow evening primroses (though these big moths are supposed to be daytime feeders) and I had fuchsias, sweet peas and roses, potentilla and scotch marigolds, in full bloom when the moth was here, and Himself got rather carried away with a special offer on scented begonias from Suttons, (he bought me 60 !!! of them) so the garden is absolutely awash with pots those huge flowers, but I've never seen anything feeding from them (big showy, double flowers, hard for insects to get close to any pollen)
The wasps are pretty much dead now, I haven't seen a live one since I spotted the moth anyway, so that one must have been in it's final day or so.

M

 

[awarner]

Wasps seem to be stinging everything in my woods at the moment, especially dogs. Had a few owners at the weekend with limping dogs looking very sorry for themselves.
Surprised the moth travelled so far up north especially at this time of year.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

Toddy, I believe the caterpillars feed on any or all of the various 'bedstraws'. There are reports of a much larger than normal number of these moths being reported throughout this country during the second world war, it may simply be that more people were out and about in gardens, allotments and countryside foraging etc. but it is also believed by some that it was due to the fact that the Cleavers were pretty much allowed to run wild as the 'ministry for what ever' had advised that the plant be used for green foods, coffee, animal bedding and building airplanes out of (I made the airplane bit up) but it did result in the caterpillars thriving.

D.B.

 

[Toddy]

D'you know I hadn't thought about cleavers, and there are great mats of the stuff just over the fence in the woodlands along the burn.
We're mild here compared to much of the country, one reason most of the population live in the Forth/Clyde valley areas.

M