I believe this to be an Elephant Hawk Moth. It was on the kerb by the roadside in Todmorden, so I brought it home and put it in the garden area. I know the adult Moth is common but I have not seen the caterpillar before. It has a long snout but when disturbed it retracts it and makes a big head with those 2 “eyes” to intimidate other creatures.
Elephant Hawk moth
Moths are my forte so that is an Elephant Hawk Moth. They feed on Rosebay Willowherb
I’ve read they are most commonly to be found in a garden setting feeding on fuchsia but will eat bedstraw and Himalayan balsam. They seem to be popping up all over in urban settings in recent years. I’ve seen one in a garden in Brighouse and I know of one found walking along the dual carriageway at Bull Green and
another outside Tesco Express in Ovenden! Perhaps they’re extending their range along with their repertoire of food plants.
I believe the Scientific Society has the first record for the occurrence of rosebay willowherb in the borough, back in the late nineteenth century. I wonder if elephant hawk moths were found here before then?
On the Rosebay Willow Herb thread, there is an account in the Halifax Naturalist (sorry I cant direct you straight to it) of a Halifax botanist who took a walk with his son to see Rosebay Willow-herb that had been reported in HUDDERSFIELD ! It would have been a nice walk at one time I suppose before the traffic got so heavy.
There are two patches of pure white-flowered Rosebay in Calderdale, one that was well known that the HSS used to call in to look at near the turning for Ogden Golf Course up on the main Keighley Road. Many years ago I found a second much smaller patch of white Rosebay below Mixenden Edge, not very far from the old site. Funny, because travelling all over the country I’ve never seen it anywhere else in the wild, only once in a garden near Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It is available (or has been) from specialist nurseries.