Elephants in The Garden - Summer, 2021

Some years we are lucky enough to find an Elephant Hawk-moth larva in our garden. This is usually when they are wandering around looking for a suitable place to pupate, so it is the rather spectacular full-grown caterpillar that we see. Since I have been moth-trapping we also get the adult moths most years - we missed in 2019.

Sunday, 25th July

Although I am responsible for virtually all the gardening on our property - a duty that I have not done too well with over the past couple of years but that I am now starting to get on top of - Lindsay has a small raised bed in which she grows herbs. This year almost a half of this raised bed was bare, apart from a few Rosebay Willowherb plants which had invaded and not been weeded out. Lindsay had started to attend to this when she came to me to tell me that she'd found a large caterpillar. I went to check.

Sure enough, there in her herb bed was a large green Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar - identifiable by its 'eye-spots'. By its size it appeared that it was a late instar, but this species usually changes its colour from green to brown in its 4th instar, so I was unsure.

Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 25th July, 2021

I then found another, smaller, individual partly hidden nearby. This one was clearly an earlier instar and, although it had 'eye-spots' it lacked other markings. I'm going to refer to the previous one as No.1 and this one as No.2.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.2 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 25th July, 2021

This caused me to look even harder, and I found a third caterpillar. This one was quite tiny compared to the others and if it hadn't had the 'tail horn' I might have doubted its species. This was, of course, No.3.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 25th July, 2021

Tuesday, 27th July

Two days later, No.1's markings were getting more pronounced and I realised that this was probably one of the few individuals that didn't turn brown in their 4th instar.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.1 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 27th July, 2021

Thursday, 29th July

The two larger caterpillars had started disappearing for much of the time and only coming out to feed. As the raised bed is 2 ft (60 cm) off the ground, we came to the conclusion that, for the rest of the time, they were sheltering under the dense foliage of the sage bush in the raised bed.

No.1 was still growing and still green. He had now been maned 'Peter' - after  Peter Green, who was one of my favourite guitarists.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.1 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 29th July, 2021

Saturday, 31st July

This was a remarkable day, not just because No.2 had shed a skin and turned brown, and No.3 had also shed a skin and gained 'eye-spots' (but was still green), but because we found two more Elephant Hawk-moth larvae. One (No.4) was a tiny early instar, but the other (yes, No.5!) was a late instar individual in brown livery. No.4 was in a position that was difficult to photograph, but I did get a shot of No.5.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.2 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 29th July, 2021

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 29th July, 2021

Elephant Hawk-moth No.5 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 29th July, 2021

Later that day, I saw a Blackbird struggling with what was apparently a large brown hawk-moth caterpillar. I tried to intervene and the Blackbird managed to fly away with it. Only one brown late instar Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar was seen after that so I do not know if we lost No.2 or No.5. Also, at about that time, No.4 disappeared, never to be seen again.

Monday, 1st August

No.3 had stopped feeding for a while and was resting head-down on a stem. My suspicions were confirmed when I found it later having just shed its skin. If you look back at the image of No.3 from the previous day, you can see that it hadn't moved! I believe that it was now in its 3rd instar.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 1st August, 2021

This was also the last day that I photographed No.1, but the next day it had gone - hopefully somewhere to safely pupate. This species usually pupates in leaf litter on, or just under, the ground.
 

Elephant Hawk-moth No.1 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 1st August, 2021

Tuesday 9th August

By now No.2/5 had also disappeared, leaving us with just No.3. No.3 had been head-down on a stem for a while, so I took another photo. This was taken at 10.48:-

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 9th August, 2021 @ 10.48

And this was taken at 16.04. It was now in its 4th instar - note the shed skin and the change of colour and markings.
 

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 9th August, 2021 @ 16.04

Wednesday, 10th August

Next day I went out to see what the situation was with No.3. At 14.30 it had just descended the stem a little and was very dark in colour.

Elephant Hawk-moth No.3 (Deilephila elpenor) (larva) - garden on 10th August, 2021 @ 14.30

After this, No.3 continued through to full maturity before wandering off. I am hoping that next year I might see these Elephants in their full moth finery. They really are a fabulous moth. Here's one that I photographed earlier in our garden.

Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) (adult) - garden on 19th June, 2020

Footnote:-

I did consider trying to raise one or two of these in captivity. Keeping them supplied with a suitable food supply was not an issue. However, my concern was how to provide them with a suitable place to pupate in, given that they like to wander and find a place under leaf litter. If anyone has experience in this area, I'd be delighted for any advice you can offer. Maybe then, if I get the opportunity in the future, I'll give it a try.

I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post. I'm fully expecting my next blog post to be a July catch-up which will probably be somewaht shorter than my recent June catch-up.

Until the next time, take good care of yourself, and Nature!