In addition to the whips in my woodland, we've also begun to establish an orchard closer to the house, using larger trees. We've already planted an apple, medlar, cobnut and damson, plus a few currant bushes. Whilst wondering past today, I noticed the apple had suffered a bit of damage and on closer inspection noticed this little fellow:
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| Can you see it? |
Apparently it's a type of hawk moth (privet hawk moth, I think) caterpillar. An amazing camouflage and hope the tree will survive so we can have some fruit in years to come!
Further up in a willowherb weed, I spotted a scary looking character:
This is a different type of hawk moth, displaying in "snake mode" - they also have other modes of defence but nearly had me fooled
That said, not quite as convincing as this grass snake, which might have been playing dead but might have possibly have been damaged by one of the dogs. They grow to 6 feet in the UK but this was about 4 feet long. I've seen several around basking in the warmer weather and although I hope this one survived, they're not endangered
