- Lifespan
- Several months to over a year; adults typically live 6–12 months
- Size & Weight
- Wingspan 8–10 cm; body length 5–6 cm; weight approximately 0.7–1.0 g
- Habitat
- Open, sunny areas with abundant flowering plants including teasels, bugloss, and garden flowers; meadows, gardens, and rocky scrubland.
- UK Distribution
- Primarily southern England and southern Wales; rare vagrant to northern regions. Most records are summer visitors (June–October), with increasing numbers of overwintering individuals in mild winters.
- Diet
- Nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants including teasels, bugloss, valerian, petunias, and fuchsias; occasionally feeds on honeydew.
- Predators
- Dragonflies, robber flies, spiders, and occasionally birds; vulnerable to parasitic flies and wasps as larvae.
- Mating Season
- June to September; may breed year-round in overwinterers
- Breeding
- Females lay single eggs on or near appropriate host plants; larvae (hawkmoth caterpillars) feed on Galium species (bedstraw); typically one generation per year in the UK, though two may occur in warm years or overwintering populations.
- Behaviour
- Remarkable hovering flight resembles a hummingbird; visits flowers throughout the day with rapid wingbeats (approximately 80 per second). Highly territorial and capable of sustained powered flight over long distances. Males perform aggressive chase displays.