richard.heeks
Hummingbird Hawk-moth with Red Marking
So, I go out again this afternoon and see my regular Hummingbird Hawk-moth, except it lets me get a bit closer than usual, and then I notice this orange marking behind its head. So I wonder if it's a different moth. So I'm going to have to do some research here....................
P.S. I took a few hundred shots to get these few I've posted. Difficult to get focus and exposure right! Not very very difficult, but quite difficult.
I've done some research and posted a couple of questions in different groups, but I still don't know what this reddy orange marking is. Please let me know if you have any idea. Maybe it's a wound, as .MIDSON. says (see comments below).
Later......... Mpgoody (in the BBC Autumnwatch group), salsastar123, and Pixel-Pusher (comments below) have said it's a bald patch. So consensus is for a bald patch. Which sounds good to me, as it's good news for the moth.
Before taking these shots I'd watched on with some horror as a wasp was grabbing bees off a flower, wrestling them to the ground, and then (gulp) decapitating them. I hadn't imagined that the wasp had attempted such a thing with my Hawk-moth, but watching this had got me into a dark place where anything was possible. So, a bald patch! That's great!
This photo was discussed on BBC Autumnwatch Unsprung (7th Oct 2011). Yay!!!!
Hummingbird Hawk-moth with Red Marking
So, I go out again this afternoon and see my regular Hummingbird Hawk-moth, except it lets me get a bit closer than usual, and then I notice this orange marking behind its head. So I wonder if it's a different moth. So I'm going to have to do some research here....................
P.S. I took a few hundred shots to get these few I've posted. Difficult to get focus and exposure right! Not very very difficult, but quite difficult.
I've done some research and posted a couple of questions in different groups, but I still don't know what this reddy orange marking is. Please let me know if you have any idea. Maybe it's a wound, as .MIDSON. says (see comments below).
Later......... Mpgoody (in the BBC Autumnwatch group), salsastar123, and Pixel-Pusher (comments below) have said it's a bald patch. So consensus is for a bald patch. Which sounds good to me, as it's good news for the moth.
Before taking these shots I'd watched on with some horror as a wasp was grabbing bees off a flower, wrestling them to the ground, and then (gulp) decapitating them. I hadn't imagined that the wasp had attempted such a thing with my Hawk-moth, but watching this had got me into a dark place where anything was possible. So, a bald patch! That's great!
This photo was discussed on BBC Autumnwatch Unsprung (7th Oct 2011). Yay!!!!