Farm Attack

Ah the joy of summer months..... I was stepping out into my garden to enjoy the warmth of a dying day when I was attacked by what looked like a small hummingbird!.. .anyone who knows me, knows I'm scared of birds (they flap a lot and their eyes look evil!) Luckily I didnt have to suffer the embarrassment of anyone seeing me land grovelling on my top step, but I managed to spilt the cup o' tea I'd been carrying all over the wall just inside the door way, which looked a little like a stretched map of south America, or as I stood up again - the face of elvis in this young quiff days!... I can now claim 'elvis is alive and living in my front hall'.... he's just a toot quiet now.

Anyways... where was I? oh yes! The mutant bird attack. As I recovered my composure and bladder control, I could still hear a sound like a flapping/humming beating sorta noise... which twittered around the large honeysuckle I have climbing the side of my house. I watched mesmerised as this small bird sized moth type bat thing with an amazingly long tongue drank nectar from the flowers.

I have an amateur interest in wildlife but had no idea what it was... it was furry like a bat/mouse- the size of a small bird - wings that beat and hummed like a humming bird and look of a moth or butterfly. It was a curious sight, even the cows were watching!

(illogical) deductive thinking

· bats and moths come out at dusk and night = neither of those!
· hummingbirds live in exotic places - this farm = not possible!
· mice cant fly = not a mouse
· butterflies flutter NOT buzz and hum = not this either!

result? = get camera and take a photo!...

man that was harder than I expected. This tiny creature flitted around at an incredible speed. But eventually I got the one posted above and some others (mostly obscure and blurry).

Eventually after much searching I found it in a wildlife book = it was a hummingbird hawkmoth (rarely seen in britain)! it must've heard about elvis in my hall!...