Eyed Hawk Moth

My father-in-law found a huge caterpillar in his garden last year, he was about to ‘dispose’ of it but thankfully told me so I said we’d take it off him and put it in a terrarium with a bunch of leaves that it had been feasting on.

By that same evening we thought it had escaped as we couldn’t spot it but then realised it had burrowed underground and begun to form a chrysalis.

Fast forward 8 months and my daughter suggested we check to see if it had hatched and it had!

Shot a bit of video and a few photos before releasing her into the garden (as well as some images of her as a caterpillar and in her chrysalis).

We’re guessing she's a she as much to our surprise (despite having no contact with any other moths) she’d already laid some bright green eggs (assuming they won’t hatch as they can’t have been fertilised???)

Either way, she’s now free to do her thing.

A couple of interesting facts to finish:

The adult Eyed Hawk moth does not eat... it's done all it's eating as a caterpillar.

It has a set of brightly coloured 'eyes' on it's underwings which it flashes to predators such as birds to infer that it is actually much larger than it is.

An awesome creature.