Hummingbird Hawk moth

A glorious hummingbird hawk-moth.

UK Conservationists have warned that many of the UK's common and garden butterfly species could be in decline.

Butterfly Conservation is urging the public to spend quarter of an hour in a garden, park or field this week - July 24 to August 1 - and make a note of the species of any butterfly they see there as well as day-flying moths such as hummingbird hawk-moths.

I once ran up and down the beautiful floral gardens of the family Rothschild, outside Nice, to try and capture a picture of this amazing creature. It seemed to prefer the blue flowers of the glorious Agapanthus.

This beautiful picture is very deceptive in it's clarity, because this is one hyperactive moth that moves at a blindingly super speed. If you try to photograph it with a normal camera, all you will get is a brownish, grey blur.

It took me some time to cool down and recover from the exertion but a few minutes in the shade with a bottle of Mouton Cadet helped enormously.

I have also seen a few of these moths visiting my garden in the Netherlands, during very hot days.