Poplar trio

Hawk moths made their debut for 2014 last night in the form of this handsome trio of Poplars, 20 days earlier than my first hawk (also a Poplar) last year. The species seems particularly abundant round here; I think six was my record in one night last year, with even greater numbers of Large Elephant Hawks a few weeks later. Otherwise the cold weather ensured that Caddis flies heavily outnumbered the Powdered Quaker and Muslin moth which were my only other eggbox guests. Small update: sorry, I forgot to add that I didn't light the lamp 'til 11.30pm so these are late flyers, probably during one of the colder parts of the night.  Martin Wainwright, Thrupp, Oxon