Lunar Hornet Moth

Sesia bembeciformis (52.003)

The Lunar Hornet Moth is very local but sometimes common in Warwickshire. The adult Lunar Hornet Moth is on the wing from late June and through July. It prefers damp woodland where its larval foodplants occur.

The species had been recorded on many occasions since the start of the 20th Century. The first record is from Princethorpe Wood in 1903. Records of adults and larvae have been recorded at Clowes Wood, May's Wood, Tile Hill Wood (Coventry), Snitterfield Bushes, Malpas Quarry (Rugby), Ryton Organic Gardens Car Park where Sallow trees that had been cut contained tunnels, caps and larvae, Solihull and Bath Place (Leamington Spa).