Privet Hawk-moth

I put the moth trap out last night, and this morning identified 222 individual moths, of 58 different species. Among them were 7 of these Privet Hawk-moths, which do not usually rest with their wings open like this for long. The wingspan (tip to tip) of this moth was 110 mm (over 4 inches). They are night-flying moths, and they usually only come out when it is quite dark.

Apologies for the background, but these moths are difficult to handle in that once you have one on your hand it is difficult to remove because they have very clingy feet and I photographed it quickly on our old garden table before it closed up again.

Best viewed large!