Is it a hummingbird, a hawk, or a moth? The somewhat confusingly named hummingbird hawk-moth is (drumroll, please) a moth species that migrates to the U.K. and Ireland from southern Europe and North Africa each summer. Its moniker comes from the way it feeds — hovering over flowers like a hummingbird.
Wildlife photographer Andrew Fusek-Peters captured that feeding process earlier this month in a series of stunning photos that show the 2-inch insect beating its wings at a staggering 85 times a second while drinking from a valerian bush in his garden in Shropshire, England.
The striking moths have been thriving in the U.K. thanks to the warm summer. James Benwell, from the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, told the BBC that 2026 was a “record year” for sightings in the country.
“They’ve had a really good year this year,” he said. “Normally they would come in small numbers. We’d normally hear of a few maybe. But this year, we’ve seen loads of records of them.”
Though it borrows its name from the hummingbird, this hawk-moth actually has the avian species beat when it comes to hovering speed — hummingbirds average about 50 beats per second, while the insects can hit up to 85 beats per second. (Another fun fact: Hummingbirds are native only to the Americas, and hummingbird hawk-moths only to the U.K., Europe, and North Africa.)
“The hummingbird hawk-moth is a summer visitor to the U.K. from southern Europe and North Africa but can be seen in most months of the year and is a favorite garden visitor,” Fusek-Peters told SWNS. “With warmer summers, it now breeds in the U.K. and will often overwinter here and can now be considered a U.K. breeding species.”
He noted that the bugs “emit an audible hum” as they hover. “It means that it can maneuver easily with its long proboscis able to delve into deeper flower stems such as red valerian.”
As for how he captured such action-packed photos, Fusek-Peters said it took time and experimentation. “I spent much of the summer photographing them and experimented with slowing down my shutter speed to capture the incredible motion and orange flash of the wings.”
This article was originally written by Ed Chatterton for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
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