I rescued an elephant hawkmoth from a cobweb in the greenhouse last week. Set it free on Bowle's Mauve and even managed a few seconds of it on video. A beautiful creature and the caterpillars feed on willowherb. Got loads of that in the wilder parts of the garden, so look forward to seeing one again, not to mention the amazing caterpillars!
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It's a longhorn beetle, Rutpela maculata.
Thanks Bob
He's a smart fellow Matt
I meant the beetle - but Bob is too....

Lol, its very pretty, we get all sorts of unusuals bugs here. I remember watching a Hummingbird Hawkmoth last October on the Lavender.
Is that the one that's very loud in flight Bob?
Don't think I've seen/heard one in flight nut but I know they love nectar and have seen them on parsnips which I left in the ground to flower.
Maybe not the one. Something with a very low frequency sound that I didn't recognize but tried to match up in the insect book
I rescued an elephant hawkmoth from a cobweb in the greenhouse last week. Set it free on Bowle's Mauve and even managed a few seconds of it on video. A beautiful creature and the caterpillars feed on willowherb. Got loads of that in the wilder parts of the garden, so look forward to seeing one again, not to mention the amazing caterpillars!