For anyone who might still be interested, this Wiki-link helps clear it up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth
Quote: "Moths in the
Hemaris genus of the family Sphingidae are known as "hummingbird moths" in the U.S. and "bee moths" in Europe, which sometimes causes confusion between this species and the North American genus."
Wiki clarifies things here, confirming my suspicions, but still
mistakenly says these are known as "bee moths" in Europe, when they are,
as I said correctly, known over here as "bee hawk-moths".
The following photo is from my 'Bible': "Butterflies & Moths of Britain and Europe" by David Carter (ISBN 0 330 26642 X) since of course I stand by the
European taxonomy:
In the text these are described as "Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth", "Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth" and (below) the "Humming-bird Hawk-moth"... which I am guessing you do not have in the US.
So when I see what you saw in
my garden, it is a bee hawk-moth.