John's Crazy Caterpillars

John sent me this picture. He found these two in his garden and has never seen anything like them before!

I thought myself that they were some type of moth larvae (caterpillars), but hunting in my Field guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland it was hard to be certain.Here is Johns description;

"about 2 to 2 ½ inches long ½ inch in diameter. Brownish black in colour with lighter stripes. 

4 eyes 1 at each side front top and 1 at each side back of head.

Snoutish head when crawling moves in a sort of concertina type movement." 

Luckily I have a moth consultant! I emailed it on to Veronica who confirmed that its elephant hawk moth caterpillar, they are pretty common and like willowherbs which are very common weeds in most gardens. They are not garden pests though.  All those scary "eyes" are fakes to scare off anything that might want to eat them! Here is what the adult looks like;

from rx wildlife.co.uk

There must be a caterpillar revival going on as I found two hairy molly caterpillars yesterday in the garden (my neighbours believe when you see them crossing the road it signals fine weather ahead, so looking out at the driving rain today I must conclude seeing them climb a wall can only spell trouble). Meanwhile my winter Kales are hosting armies of cabbage white caterpillars.