Hawk Moth

No idea but what a beauty. Is it on a poplar tree?

This is the caterpillar of the Eyed Hawkmoth (smerinthus ocellata). It looks as if it's newly emerged as the 'horn' will eventually darken to nearly blue.
They feed on a variety of native trees and also fruit trees.
when the caterpillar is fully grown it will bury itself in the soil to form a chrysalis. The brightly coloured moth, with a wingspan of 3.5 ins, will emerge next June

how lucky a stunning bit of british nature

Fascinating stuff.....

thank you so much BBB, it was a fascinating caterpillar, I found it walking it's way across my clematis.

cool

That beastie would be welcome to walk over any plant in my garden...

i sore one on my blind in the toilet.the moth that is but it hadnt filled its wings with blood yet so was crumpled.at a glance i thaught wow a womans scrunchy on my blind .then i took a second look after realising what a stupid thaught that was.

It is actually a poplar hawk moth. I have one that has just gone underground to turn into a moth. Don't know how i should look after it now though. any ideas?

(the poplar hawkmoth caterpillars have a yellow "horn" while eyeds have a blue one)

As ignorant as I am I'd just leave alone :-)

your right moon nature knows best they know what to do so your not ignorant xx

David came back from cutting an elderly neighbour's grass with a moth caterpillar wandering around on his trousers... Must find the photo I took and get it i.d.'d. We took it out into the garden and offered it various different tree leaves - it went for the birch. We put him on a branch and left him alone and he chomped his way through a good few leaves and has now disappeared - presumably to pupate.

or die lol xx

Well... fingers crossed NP, I feel sort of responsible for the little guy since I placed him on the birch tree.

im only messing you did what you thaught was best.you could easily look up what they eat on here.id of said it was going to hybernate in its pupa form soon this time of year.i remember going in an old ww2 pill box and seeing hundreds of red admirals hybernating.it was amazing.i wish id had my camera

Ach not fazzed... but do hope the little guy survives. We end up with all sorts of adult butterflies hibernating in the house every year.

cool lucky you

I found a similar, but not the same monster in our garden. I put it over the wall into the brambles..magnificent specimen but gave me the creeps. Posted a pic of it