Humming Bird? (Merged..... again)

[Just Before Dawn]

They're regular summer visitors to us here on the East coast - it's quite an unusual year here we don't get the odd humming-bird hawkmoth.

It's interesting to note that there are now thoughts that the critters over-winter. They're one of a range of invertebrates seemingly expanding their range northwards in Europe - the convolvulus hawkmoth maintained populations here in Lincs for a good few tears in the 1990's, even though the books stated it as an erruptive migrant. Similarly both the hornet and the bee-wolf (a huge parasitic wasp of honey bees) has marched northwards in the last twenty years. The Bee-Wolf in particular has spread north spectacularly - in 1993 it was confined to coastal dunes and heaths in Kent, by 1996 it had reached suffolk, 1998 Norfolk and was recorded in Lincolnshire in 2000. I understand it's now in North Yorkshire. This equates well with a range of traditionally migrant dragonfly species now probably resident - especially red-viened darter.

A word of caution, though - this needn't be global-warming related - the lizard orchid went from one site in kent in the 1910's, to as far north as Yorkshire in the 1950's and has subsequently retreated back to the South Coast (and Cambridgeshire). Some species are just wierd.