Hemaris tityus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Hemaris tityus, the narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae which is native to the Palearctic. It has a wide range, from Ireland across temperate Europe to the Ural Mountains, western Siberia, Novosibirsk and the Altai. It is also known from the Tian Shan eastwards across Mongolia to north-eastern China and southwards to Tibet. There is a separate population found from Turkey to northern Iran.
It appears in May and June and is a lively day-flier (unlike most other sphingids), generally active from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. It frequents marshy woodland and damp moorland, and has a wide distribution across temperate Europe and Western Asia, but is generally quite scarce. The larvae feed on devil's-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) and field scabious (Knautia arvensis).
It is distinguished from H. fuciformis by the narrow band of scaling along the outer wing margin, and the forewing's undivided discal cell. It has a wingspan of 40–50 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in). It is one of two similar species of sphingid moth occurring in Britain that closely mimic a bumblebee. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 219th most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to April, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth sightings, Cairngorms National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 10%).
Same family: Sphingidae
The closest relatives of the Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (family Sphingidae, Sphinx Moths) are Poplar Hawkmoth (about 10%), Elephant Hawkmoth (about 10%) and Eurasian Hummingbird Hawkmoth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
