What will this become?
Superrad49
Posts: 40
Found this in my garden this afternoon. It is about the size of an adult small finger !
What is it going to become ? any ideas ?
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Superrad49
Posts: 40
Superrad49
Posts: 40
Superrad49
Posts: 40
Posts
elephant hawk moth I think.
Yes, it is an Elephant Hawkmoth.
Elephant hawk moth. Loves fuschia leaves. Put it somewhere safe for the winter. Beautiful creature.
Nooooo. don't put it somewhere safe. It needs to pupate in a place of its own choice. Leave it alone or better still, where you found it.
So pleased you identified this as I found three in my garden last week and didn't know what they were. Thank you
Elephant hawk moth . Usually I see them on rose bay willow herb
Hopefully he will become one of these
My mother and I used to find these and all sorts of other caterpillars on the hedges, banks and trees near our house when I was a littl'un. We'd cut the twig or leaf the beastie was feeding on, take it home and put it in a jar, replenishing the food plant and cleaning out the jar daily. After a while, the caterpillar would become torpid and pupate. We'd spray the chrysalis in warm weather to make sure it didn't dehydrate and count the days until it hatched; we'd each try to guess the hatching date and the winner got to release the new moth or butterfly once it's wings had properly unfurled. Whenever we released a hawk moth, it would make a fabulous buzzing noise as it flew away.
Probably wouldn't be allowed to keep caterpillars from the countryside nowadays, but I like to think we saved some from becoming a passing birdie's lunch before they had a chance to breed. My mum was (and still is) quite the conservationist.
My brother and I used to keep 'woolly bears' and have caterpillar races with them and grow them into tiger moths. Some elephant hawk moths seem to have found my willowherb this year, the first time I've seen them in 30 years here, but haven't seen any caterpillars. Will look out for both adults and young next year, hope the winter isn't too severe for them. I have fuchsias too in the greenhouse so maybe I'll spot them in there instead!