Surprise Moth on the White Buddleia

I fear I am rather scraping the barrel with the quality of these photographs; but, once again, they serve as useful record shots. Our white buddleia has at long last come into its own this year, attracting the occasional Comma, Peacock, Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, along with good numbers of Red Admiral and Small White. There have been plenty of bees on the higher branches. 

We were sitting outside on Thursday afternoon when a particularly 'fluttery' insect caught my attention and I knew almost instinctively that it was a Hummingbird Hawk-moth, a garden first for us. I am adding the sighting to my home-patch list. The moth was very skittish and hard to photograph. It did not hang around for long, but it was there and we both saw it. 

I last saw one of these beautiful insects here in Suffolk a few years ago. Prior to that, my sightings had been in the western Peloponnese - here. You can read more about the Hummingbird Hawk-moth here on the Butterfly Conservation site.