Three of these are certainly resident: Poplar Hawk-moth is probably the most common, a huge furry grey moth with red flashes on the under-wings and a definite star of the trap at public moth events. Elephant and Small Elephant Hawk-moth are also widespread and becoming increasingly numerous. Both these species are clothed in a stunning combo of carnation pink and olive green – once seen, not easily forgotten. Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth has been seen in East Lothian a few times, but its home turf is really more northern and western. The remaining Hawk-moths seen in this part of Scotland are migrants, using powerful flight to cross the North Sea from the Continent: Hummingbird, Convolvulus, Bedstraw, Death’s Head Hawk-moth have all turned up with varying degrees of regularity since 2000.

Hawk-moth occurrence was not quite the same 100 years ago. Alice records a different eight species from East Lothian (not all found by her). She notes Convolovulus, Bedstraw, Striped and Silver-striped as migrants from the continent, commenting that they “rarely if ever breed”. Silver-striped Hawk-moth was a single record supplied by William Evans, but the provenance vague. I have since come across this impressive moth in a private collection of Evans’ moths. It turns out it was caught in Edinburgh, but a remarkable find nonetheless. Alice doesn’t specifically mention Humming-bird Hawk-moth as a migrant (it is), but she does note “it is very irregular in its appearance but is sometimes common”.  She came across the caterpillars of Poplar Hawk-moth and Death’s Head Hawk-moth, concluding that they bred occasionally. This remains true for Poplar Hawk-moth, but Death’s Head Hawk-moth is now an extremely unusual find and it is only adults that are occasionally encountered. Small Elephant Hawk-moth makes Alice’s list as “rare”; one found by Marjoribanks in 1878 is in her collection recorded as “evidently new out of chrysalis”. Perfect for the collection then! Elephant Hawk-moths don’t get a mention. They were very unusual in Scotland then.

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Some of the hawk-moth specimens in Alice’s collection

As large showy moths, hawk-moths perhaps more than any other type of moth are noticed by members of the public. Of the four recent Death’s Head Hawk-moth records in East Lothian, none were supplied by the local moth enthusiasts but rather noticed in passing by ordinary people going about ordinary business. The same was true in Alice’s day: several of her Death’s Head Hawk-moth records were of caterpillars found by labourers in potato fields and many of her other hawk-moth records variously ascribed to “men cleaning the gutters”, “housemaid”, “boy”, the specimen sometimes passing several hands before ending up in Alice’s collection. Her notes include some interesting comment: She records one Humming-bird Hawk-moth “Hybernating” at Whittinghame House 1870, unfortunately without any details of where or the time of year. Nowadays these moths are occasionally observed resting in buildings at the end of the summer in Scotland, although the moths don’t remain all winter and are presumed to move further south. She also mentions a Death’s Head Hawk-moth in a Haddington beehive in 1890. This impressive moth continues to shock the unsuspecting beekeeper by occasionally turning up in hives.

July 2019 has been a remarkable month for migrants. Almost unprecedented (in living memory) numbers of Painted Lady butterflies arriving on the Scottish East Coast provided a highly visible and remarkable spectacle by day. Less immediately obvious was a nocturnal flood of moth migrants with many species turning up in places they’d never been seen before.

One of the first to arrive and arguably the most striking was Bedstraw Hawk-moth. Much excitement ensued the first record from Haddington, but as the days passed more and more sightings were made across Scotland and it soon became obvious that this was not a one-off. Perhaps the very warm weather in continental Europe meant lots of moths had the urge to move, and the right weather and wind directions meant they ended up here. Lucky us! Alice notes Bedstraw Hawk-moth twice in East Lothian, both at the end of August/start of September in 1870.

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Autumn 1917 was a good year for migrant Convolvulus Hawk-moth in Scotland. Alice includes newspaper clippings in her notebook which shows even the local press regarded this as newsworthy – they even got the facts reasonably accurate! Although these “good years” for migrating moths were well documented, we now know much more about the biology of insect migration and moth social media networks allow instant sharing of observations across the UK, whipping the more competitive enthusiasts into a frenzy of light trapping at likely migratory hotspots (resulting in even more records). Nevertheless, it remains a randomly occurring event. We can never be sure too far in advance when the next impressive influx will happen nor exactly where these migrants will be found. I suppose that is part of the fun. Meanwhile we can always rely on our hawk-moth residents to bring joy to the morning’s trap.