How bizarre! I had no idea how on earth he had fallen on the table, so far away from any trees or plants. (We thought maybe a bird had dropped it, but he was in perfect condition.) Next I was on the internet looking up what kind of caterpillar “he” was, a Lime Hawk-Moth that eats birch leaves, of which we have two huge trees. OK so that explains why he was in the garden. After taking lots of photos and some video of this gorgeous creature I let him go on the birch tree out of harms way.
About half an hour passed and I came out of the front door to take Henry for a walk only to find another Lime Hawk-Moth caterpillar on the door step. I know it wasn’t the same as the first as this one had different colouring, a slightly more pink/purple back. We have never seen these caterpillars before and now two in one day. Needless to say Henry didn’t get to go for a walk for some time as I just had to watch this second caterpillar. It was trying to climb the stone steps, slipping and sometimes falling on the smooth areas. It then proceeded to climb up the brick work all the way to the top of the front door. Now that solved the mystery of how the first caterpillar ended up where it did, he must have been climbing the side wall of the house and slipped on some of the stone. I still don’t understand why they were attracted to the house though, it is in the opposite direction to their food source and they pupate under ground. All very strange, but fun!
