most certainly NOT a butterfly!!

I think I have identified this correctly as a Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) and I can safely say that I have delivered on my promise to show you something different!! I did have one or two other ideas for today but they paled into insignificance next to this beauty. It's not the greatest shot ever (wrong camera settings, wrong lens etc) but I'm sooooo thrilled to have captured it this well.......alternative shot here. I was out in the garden searching for an alternative blip and looking longingly at the masses of butterflies when this magnificent creature flew right in front of me and hovered - what did I do?..........stood and gawped in amazement, camera in hand but not even registering......... 'GET A PHOTO YOU IDIOT!!!'. It hovered at the buddleia flower under my nose for a good 2-3 seconds and I missed it, doh!!! So this is a shot of it when I had come to my senses and it had moved on to a higher flower but I'm still really pleased with it. I reeled off loads of shots before it flew away but most were too blurred to see it properly and these were the only two that were reasonable. Initially I thought it was just having a look at the flowers because it just hovered 2-3 inches away from them and then moved on but when I saw the photos on the computer I realised it was actually feeding. I really hope you get as much pleasure from seeing this as I have - so much so, I'm still buzzing, just like the moth :-))))))))))))))))))