An elephant hawkmoth larva - thought from a distance that Sephie was playing with a slug but no ...
Didn't seem to be harmed so was put out near the fuchsia - one of the food plants according to my book ... hope it leaves some fuchsia for me as it was a bit of a bruiser!
Is still ok - as the moths are huge and beautiful!
went back and checked if it was still there about 20 minutes later and couldn't see it so assume it is okay. Will look out for the moth later but suspect it will fly away quite quickly.
Tend to spend more time focusing on butterflies than moths - had a few sightings of clouded yellows recently - including one this am which is quite nice.
Is your walk tomorrow - supposed to be playing bowls tomorrow afternoon but suspect it will be cancelled if there is a lot of rain tomorrow morning as playing would probably cause too much damage to the green ... from what I saw of the forecast I might need waterwings for the bowls 
my friend bought a home butterfly hatchery. all eight painted lady butterflies hatched and they've set them free.
when I was much younger (40+ years ago) we used to find caterpillars and take them home and keep them in a vivarium until they hatched - guess it was good as you found out about food plants. Was mainly small and large whites though I know I also hatched out some magpie moths - sadly now gone from the area as part of the rather dramatic decline of moths over the last few decades.
Wow, it is huge. I've just had a look at the moths online and they are beautiful. I've never seen one before, what part of the country are you in?
oxfordshire but I think that elephant hawkmoth is found all over the UK. Not sure how it got into the garden - main food plant is herb willow - there's a lot of that around local footpaths as quite close to open country so may have had an encounter with a bird before it had an encounter with the cat.
I think I'd need therapy if my cat brought me that ...
really pretty caterpillars turn into quite drab grey moths and vice-versa.
She was actually playing with it on the patio rather than having brought it into the house ... it was actually quite nice to find out it was a caterpillar rather than a slug
My cat brings me everything, so I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before we get a caterpillar! We've had birds, mice, rats, slugs and the funniest thing ever is that she brings me the rubber lining from people's doors and windows. We think she thinks she's caught a snake, because when she tosses it in the air, it wobbles and slithers!
Struggling to look after myself
Heartbroken and distraught after losing Suzie my cat
Suicide in the media
What can I do in a crisis?
Hungry in the early hours 
