Monday 8 July 2013

Tasty Snack Snatched Away!

On one of our many visits to the hens today we found this fine specimen staring death in the face, in the form of the Light Sussex, with a beady eye on it...

We promptly rescued it and having studied the books, we hazard a guess that it is the caterpillar of an Eyed Hawk Moth.
On this basis it has gained its freedom; free to roam the willows to its heart's content!

3 comments:

Susan said...

It's definitely a hawk moth caterpillar. I'd go for the very similar Poplar Hawk Moth Laothoe populi, which doesn't have a blue tip to the 'horn' on the rear end but also eats willows.

Rhodesia said...

So glad that you saved it. Well done. Have a good week Diane

Tim said...

I'm with Susan on that ident...
the spots below the lines are just that...
the Eyed Hawkmoth has slightly larger red circles beneath the lines, rather than spots.
Check your original pictures... these are too small to be accurate.

The Poplar Hawkmoth has a very strange wing shape. We get them here... often perched on the barn wall for some unknown reason... certainlt not camoflage!!