Apparently the caterpillar is green until it is about 12 days old then it goes brown.
Looks like the small Elephant hawk moth - Gwalch-wyfyn bach helyglys.
it looks big enough and on the ground looking for somewhere to bury itself
and pupate.
If you want to keep it, put in a sandwich box half full with compost and a
few leaves of bedstraw or willowherb (which i suspect it won’t eat, (just being cautious)),
loose lid on the box so it doesn’t escape and i expect in a couple of days it will
have disappeared into the soil, then just leave in a cool shady place till next spring.
Image from internet.
Cheers J.P.
Diolch yn fawr for that beautiful picture, John. It had climbed up onto the wood surrounding my garden bed last night, so I left it there, but I’ll have a look for it again this morning and if it’s still visible I’ll do as you say. I’d love to see it hatch out in the spring.
EDIT: Yep, still there, so it’s in a little box now. I didn’t have any of those leaves you mentioned, but it was right next to my Swiss Chard and something had been eating that, so I put a couple of half-eaten leaves in with it.
Then I spotted a bigger one, but brown this time, like mentioned above. I’ve moved it into a protected spot above a good patch of soil, so hopefully it will burrow down in there.
That may be the, Gwalch-wyfyn helyglys - Elephant hawk moth,
The larvae/caterpillars are larger and darker than the one in your original post.
(though i have been wrong before :).
Draenog bach - young hedgehog. (photo from friend in her garden).
Cheers J.P.
When I was checking my thought yesterday I learnt that elephant hawk moths are green until about 12-14 days old and then they become brown caterpillars. So it could be you have two different ages of hawk moth.
You could be right there. The green one has gone quite brownish overnight
And this isn’t my photo, but I had the pleasure of the company of a young robin like this when I was gardening this morning. Not afraid at all, coming very close and sitting looking at me, then diving about in the soil and leaves. Magic!
Some tender willow herb leaves would be good then
Today - Heddiw.
Cribau’r pannwr gwyllt - Teasel.
Draenen ddu gyda eirin tagu - Black thorn with sloe’s.
Cheers J.P.
I went for a walk along the beach this afternoon
If you start at the left and look carefully along the horizon, the first ‘lump’ you see is Lindisfarne Castle, the second, nearer the middle, is Bamburgh. BUT when I looked inland I spotted this attractive little bird on a boundary wall.
Tinwen y Garn (benywaidd) - Wheatear (female)
Great, Doug. Getting a touch of Hireath. I noticed that the old name for Lindisfarne/Holy Island was Medcaut. I remember someone once telling me that it’s Ynys Gybi. But I suspect that we were talking about different Holy Islands.
Heddiw - today.
Drudwen ifanc - Young starling.
Telor y cyrs - Reed warbler.
Blodyn yr haul - Sunflower.
Cheers J.P.
What a lovely starling! I know they are extremely common but I still think drudwy are one of the prettiest species of birds:)
Draenog ifanc / young hedgehog
It was lovely to see baby Tiggywinkle today. We haven’t had one in the garden for years. I’ve included my granddaughter’s foot for scale but I estimate its length is no more than 12 cm. Hope it puts on weight before winter.
Late summer horseriders on Dinas Dinlle beach
Bwncath / Buzzard
Red Admiral / Mantell Goch
Corhedydd y Waun / Meadow Pipit
When I went into the kitchen this morning to make coffee, I noticed this small bird sheltering from the wind in the lee of the building. I took this photo from inside.
Then went out to check if it was injured and took a few more pictures from a distance.
I wasn’t sure what it was, but Iolo came to my assistance. It is a young Treecreeper - Dringwr Bach ifanc. I tried to get a closer look, but it flew off at some speed so I know it isn’t injured.
Those look lovely, John!
Heddiw - Today.
Torthau’r tylwyth teg - Sulphur tuft.
Ysgwydd y fedwen - Birch bracket.
Paill Iorwg - Ivy pollen.
Cheers J.P.
Heddiw - Today.
Draenogyn dwr croyw - Perch.
The fisherman returned it to canal.
Pryf teiliwr / Jac y baglau - Daddy long legs.
Cheers J.P.