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Bit of a scary monster in the garden

steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
in The potting shed
Went out to water the 'stuff' last night and this fellow was ambling along as if it owned the place - when I got close, it did its Monty Python 'big scary teeth' bit and puffed itself up trying to scare me 'orf.... Got it off the hard stuff and back into some vegetation to hide...
I always think of caterpillars with German accents since Heimlich in A Bug's Life (was it that one?)....
What a vicious beast eh?

On a moth note, was over my dafter's a couple of weeks back, sitting in their garden and they had  a humming-bird hawk moth. Brilliant things to see - we had them here for a couple of years ages back (and strangely we saw one at my sister's place the same year)  - I hadn't seen one since.
UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)

Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Caterpillars are amazing!  So many adaptations to say to potential predators "Hands off - I'm fierce / poisonous / only a twig"...

    Elephant hawk moth?  Eats fuchsia and willow herb among other things.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    My garden was full of those caterpillars last year and I saw quite a few while out walking too. This year I haven't seen a single one :(
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    ...the sneaky thing was nonchalantly ambling away from my fuchias with that 'who me?' look in its fake eyes......

    It was so big, I did think about lighting the barbecue at first.....

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    They strip my hardy fuchsias but I love them so don’t mind at all. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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