ONE frequently asked question is "what is the difference between a butterfly and a moth?"

The answer is a little fuzzy, as the distinction is much more historic than it is scientific.

In general, moths fly at night and butterflies fly during the day. Whilst I have to admit I am having a hard time thinking of a night-flying butterfly, there are plenty of day-flying moths, such as the clear wings and foresters. Butterflies generally display attractive colours and moths are drab.

It could be said that skipper butterflies are beautiful, but this is much more of an acquired taste. Some moths such as the Garden Tiger moths are really bold and brash. Probably the best way to distinguish between the two is that whilst both butterflies and moths have antennae, all butterflies have antennae that end in a club-like structure, while the vast majority of moth antennae are either plain, hairy or feathery, but not club like. Well, that is apart from the Burnet moth, which has slightly club-like antennae.

There are over 2,500 different species of butterflies and moths that live in Britain. Probably my particular favourite is the hawkmoth family, of which there are 17 species you have at least a chance of encountering.

Hawk-moths are far from a common site, but you will rarely forget an encounter. Firstly they are big, some easily having wingspans of 11cm. The largest is the deaths head hawk-moth. This scarce creature has been made notorious and famous through tales of fiction and is the prominent feature of the artwork associated with The Silence of the Lambs.

The hawk-moth is also spectacularly coloured with bold markings. Probably the most gaudy is the elephant hawkmoth, which has pink stripes.

This pink coloration is almost perfect camouflage on the pink flowers of the willow herb on which it lives. It is also a spectacular flier. Many obtain their food by drinking the nectar from flowers using their long proboscises, which they use to probe the flowers whilst they maintain a perfect hovering flight in a similar way to that of a humming bird. Given the large size of these moths and the small stature of the humming bird it could be quite understandable to mistake a hawkmoth for a hummingbird.

In fact, one of the hawk-moths is even known as the Hummingbird hawk-moth. I think the resemblance is a mere coincidence as in this case a couple of species have evolved clear wings and, therefore, look like bees, which I'm sure is an evolutionary trait to mimic the bees and avoid predation.