The Hawk Moth

A Hawk moth first appeared on my living room window one evening last year in the spring time. The following morning I noticed another sitting on the window of my car. I had to lift him off with gentle coercion onto my hand but again the next morning another was sitting again on the window of my car. I had never seen anything like it before.

Things that are different are noticed. Usually moths are the lessor noted of the lepidopterans as their colouring is often duller and their size often smaller than that a butterfly. This moth is large and elegant. Butterflies rest with their wings in a vertical position whereas moths create a sort of reverse tent shape with their wings.

I took this shot somewhat awkwardly with my I phone SE. Having only one hand available to manoeuvre, I steered the Hawk moth towards a nearby beam of light. The cover on my phone has a fractured silver metallic pattern which I have learnt creates fragments of rainbows caught in sunbeams, visible only in my captured shots. A dash of unintended artistic licence for an image captured quickly, a few seconds of still in the rushed minutes before the school drop off.

This Hawk moth is stunning in the sleekness and aesthetic of its form. We learn about lepidopterans as children. The process of metamorphosis is intriguing. I have watched this process with a small caterpillar retrieved from a kale leaf. Over a month of patience was required to observe the part of this process visible . These insects are beautiful in the transitory journey they make . Looking at this moth I can marvel at its survival through to this state, it’s fragility , it’s design and the meditative taint that we give to the purpose of its life.

There are many varieties of Hawk moths but this elegant Hawk moth has a beautifully designed body, it can travel vast distances, can hover and is very fast, hence its common name. Other varieties have more pattern as camouflage . This particular moth has a delicate white line down the side of its face, like a mysterious masked avenger with two red spots on the outside of its wings. When folded upwards they may look like red eyes staring off potential predators.

I live in the bush capital of Australia, a city called Canberra. I once had a friend visit from Switzerland. He made two comments that I remember clearly. Firstly, he noted that the sky seemed much higher up in Australia than in Europe. Space. There is definitely an expanse of horizon and a sense of vast space here. He also asked me when we would reach the city though we had been within its borders for quite a while. Canberra is designed to blend into the surrounding bush land. Things that are familiar become unseen.

Our small apartment faces a nature reserve with a large mountain directly as our view. There is a plethora of wildlife here, but mostly, after a while, many of the animals, birds and insects become familiar. Kangaroos and Cockatoos are abundant. One has to drive carefully at dawn and dusk to avoid collisions with them. Baby galahs screech out to their parents, magpies make beautiful calls, kookaburras laugh, parrots chitter and pigeons coo. Seasonally, but not every year, we find Christmas beetles and cicadas. As a child I used to wear the cicadas empty shell as a brooch. This moth though, in all the years I have lived here, I have never seen before. It is uncommon.

I have photographed animals, insects, birds and landscapes that I find unusual or beautiful when I cross their paths. I imagine the selection of captured images form an aesthetic that reflects something of myself , a glamourised Instagram set for the mundane play of a middle aged woman who went to art school but never realised any true devotion to the practice of making things. I also take photographs to record uncommon things for the sake of sharing a visual experience.

This sphingidae Hawk Moth made a beautiful shot , however it was the recording of the moth itself that was important. It’s capture, the time and location were noted on a local nature app for other enthusiasts of unusual sightings.