This marker on the Cambridge Butterfly Trail is at Five Trees park – see the map above.

The Privet hawk-moth is the UK’s largest resident hawk-moth, boasting an impressive 90 to 120mm wingspan and a majestic torpedo-shaped body. With chocolate brown forewings that conceal vivid pink striped hindwings and abdomen, it’s a striking yet stealthy nocturnal flyer.

Seen from June to July, adults forage for nectar at night on fragrant blooms like honeysuckle and jasmine, and can often be drawn to light traps.

Their caterpillars are equally noteworthy, larger than many, bright green with purple tinged stripes and a curved tail horn, feeding on privet, ash, lilac, honeysuckle and other woody plants. After a summer of feeding, they pupate deep underground and emerge the following year.

Adaptable to gardens, woodland edges and hedgerows, this moth remains common in southern and central England and Wales, though less frequent further north. A true gentle giant of our night skies.

For more information, please visit Butterfly Conservation’s page on this species – Privet hawk-moth.