Elephant Hawk Moth - eats weeds!

[Two_Sheds]

Yesterday a neighbour brought me a beauty like this... an elephant hawk moth caterpillar. I just googled it and am delighted to find out that it mainly feeds on rosebay willowherb, a plentiful weed in and around my allotment. Just need to find its cousin which eats bindweed and thistles now.

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=240

[Polly Fouracre]

Two or three years ago,I was chatting to my niece as she dug up a couple of roots of spuds and to our delight and amazement out of the ground came two Elephant Hawk Moths.Still damp and crumpled,they had obviously just emerged and were waiting for nightfall to venture out.Jane's digging had disturbed them prematurely.They scuttled(no other word)towards a Brussels Sprout plant and climbed up among the leaves.
We went out at dusk and watched them fly away.