UKH

until yesterday I neither seen  or heard of these . But whilst fettling bikes outside the house yesterday morning had one buzzing around us and feeding on a bright red bush  ( no idea what you call it  ) at first I thought it was a humming bird . Proper made me smile . I tried to get some pictures but it never stopped being busy . It never cease to amaze me what Nature throws up . 

youtube.com/watch?v=jg_pwC2ZbWw&

In reply to mike123:

The bush is a Buddleia , ("Butterfly Bush").

And yes they're great to see.

Edit: ha ha. Always watch ALL the video, I thought this was yours

In reply to mike123:

Nice. Whereabouts in the UK are you?

In reply to mike123:

I have them in my garden (south lanarkshire) and have seen them in Falkland Palace gardens earlier this summer.  Virtually impossible to get them to stay still enough to take a photo. 

In reply to graeme jackson:

Wow! I thought they might only be down in the very south of England. Thanks.

In reply to graeme jackson:

Mrs 65 saw one in our front garden a couple of years ago (South Edinburgh). Spectacular beasts, the first time I saw one was in the Pyrenees and I remember thinking, 'hang on, you don't get hummingbirds in Europe do you?'

And yes, I have several blurry photos. No sharp ones.

In reply to 65:

I first saw them in valleys of the French Alps in the '80s', and had exactly the same thought.

In reply to mike123:

I saw several on our Buddleia this summer, in the midlands. First time I've ever seen them, and I used to put moth traps out frequently when I was a kid!

In reply to mike123:

I've only ever seen one twice in my life and I'm not expecting to see a third, both in Southern England. That's a rare thing to see!

In reply to CantClimbTom:

I’ve seen quite a few this year (normally see one every few years) and have read there has been a huge increase this year (probs weather related). Pretty convinced they will become more common. 

Quite funny trying to take a phone photo, waay fast. 

In reply to mike123:

Today I learned that the hummingbirds I saw in Slovakia must have been moths 🙂

In reply to mike123:

Saw them in the mountains around Annecy this year, very cool.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Noticed them first time this year. I'm in the Vercors about 1000m up above Grenoble and they're here every day. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/boFF5f3vcpDJWZms9

The flowers they're on are simply weeds busting up from the house foundations but I didn't want to get rid of them after I saw the moths were feeding on them. 

In reply to yorkshireman:

surprised you've not seen them before, they seem quite common in the Champsaur - see them most sunny days in our garden (altitude 1200m )

In reply to mike123:

On top of the Mendips, this year and two years ago, on the buddleia, just fabulous.

In reply to mike123:

I can understand your delight in seeing one of these beauties. I have only seen one - but what a treat it was.

Dave

In reply to mike123: I should have added that I called the kids to come and look , saying I had no idea what it was , the ten year old was transfixed , the 13 year old shrugged his shoulders and wandered back to bike chores and the fifteen year old having unsuccessfully tried to get pictures of it , wandered  off closer to the house to get Wi-Fi and came back after about a minute having identified it .

In reply to mike123:

They're amazing, feels so lucky to see one. The first time was belaying at the top of Chimes of Freedom at Mowing Word and I genuinely thought it was a hummingbird until I got home and googled it. I saw one again recently, again while I was belaying but this time at the bottom of Left Wall on the Cromlech. From this I deduce that their natural habitat is 3* classic single pitch E2s.

In reply to mike123:

I saw one a few weeks ago in my front garden (Sheffield), assumed it was a hummingbird, I posted a video on Facebook and someone came back saying it was a moth.

https://www.facebook.com/graeme.alderson.14/videos/1084788632396612