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hummingbird?

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Having read listener Laura‘s email, I have been led to believe there’s a leaking gas main beneath her new garden:

My boyfriend and I recently moved into a new flat in Crouch End. On our first day sitting out in our new garden we were absolutely, COMPLETELY convinced we saw a hummingbird hovering and sipping from a flower only metres away. It was very tiny, probably only two inches high and about an inch wide.

Friends have asked us whether it could have been another bird, or a hummingbird moth, but it was absolutely definitely neither of these, and was hovering in the air as hummingbirds do, not flying like a normal bird or a moth. However it was a dull brown colour, not bright and colourful.

HOWEVER after much internet consultation it seems hummingbirds simply don’t exist in Britain – so Helen and Olly answer me this – what was it that we saw and are we just deluded in persisting in our romantic belief that it was a hummingbird in our new garden?

Of course dear, it was a hummingbird, and then the unicorn next door banged on the fence and told you to stop making so much bloody noise.

However, as I once saw a crayfish on our driveway in Tunbridge Wells, who am I to say it definitely was not this exotic bird? Or a big dowdy bumblebee? If any of you readers are ornithologists, or psychotherapists, go to the comments and clear up the mystery surrounding Laura’s vision.

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This entry was posted on March 29, 2011 at 7:49 pm and is filed under extracurricular questions, User-generated answers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

3 Responses to “hummingbird?”

  1. barney's avatar barney Says:
    April 2, 2011 at 11:57 pm | Reply

    Hawkmoth I would think. A neighbour ws convinced they had a hummingbird coming into their garden, but it turned out to be a moth. They dont look or behave or sound much like moths; but dag nammit they are

  2. Reg's avatar Reg Says:
    April 1, 2011 at 1:27 pm | Reply

    It’ll definitely be a hummingbird hawkmoth, the only reason that they’re not everyone’s favourite insect is not everyone knows about them.

  3. Ade Sills's avatar Ade Sills Says:
    March 31, 2011 at 9:39 am | Reply

    There is a hawk moth moth found in Britain called the humming bird hawkmoth because it looks and sounds like a humming bird as it hovers and feeds from flowers.
    Look here

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroglossum_stellatarum

    or here

    http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/sightings/1096/hummingbird_hawk_moth.html

    could this be what Laura saw?

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