Just been watching one of these on my cinerarias!

How exciting - lucky you!

We have noticed that we have more bees this year than last which is, I hope, an encouraging sign although not many butterflies or moths are in evidence.

I've never seen a hummingbird hawkmoth

My first sighting too, Callistemon there were loads of bees buzzing around various plants too, lovely to see!

I remember as a kid watching an elephant hawk moth emerge from its chrysalis. They're found on the Rose-bay willow herb plant------magnificent moths.

I watched Cicada's hatching too on mulberry bushes in Australia and collected their " shells " to scare now the ex SiL
--------------quite the voyeur !

My beloved late stepfather found an elephant hawk moth caterpillar pupating on a tree trunk, carefully lifted the back of was on and put it in a large jar (with air holes) so that DS2 could see it when it eventually emerged, lovely memories!

"Bark off that it was on"

Damn auto correct!

The hummingbird hawk moths sometimes feed on my Buddleia.
I once found an elephant hawk moth on a Willow Herb poking through my patio, which I transferred to a larger clump in the field. It was impressive.
Does anyone living or holidaying in the West Country ever see the 2-3 inch giant grasshoppers? As a child, staying in Cornwall, I found them fascinating as well as scary. My brother kept them in jars for a while then tried to let them loose down my neck!