FROM ONE CATERPILLAR TO HUNDREDS: MY ELEPHANT HAWKMOTH JOURNEY

Some stories begin with a plan.

Others begin with a knock at the door.

This is a story that spans a few years - and one that I never certainly never expected to become such a big part of my life

It all started in August 2023.

There was a knock at my door. There stood my neighbour, holding a ginormous brown caterpillar in his hand.

“Ever seen one like this before?” he asked.

I hadn’t.

It was an Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar.

I was completely fascinated by it’s sheer size. How could caterpillars so enormous go so largely unnoticed?

We relocated it to my greenhouse, where it would be safe, and I found out that it’s food plant was willowherb, a plant I have growing in abundance around my garden. I gave it somewhere suitable to continue it’s business, and within a couple of days it had buried itself in a pot. It was pretty obvious which pot it had chosen - The disturbed soil gave it away.

I left it there for a couple of weeks to settle and pupate before carefully digging it up. I placed the pupae in a little bug collecting cage - it was what I had to hand at the time and it did the job perfectly well.

I placed it on a shelf in the shed.

Autumn passed.

Winter settled in.

Spring arrived.

And still, nothing.

Then, one sunny day in June 2024, he finally made an appearance.

And he was beautiful. I was completely in awe.

That big chunky brown caterpillar had already made me fall in love with caterpillars. But now, in front of me, was this incredible moth covered in shades of pink and olive green.

And I fell in love with moths. Hard.

I had already decided that I wanted to raise more moths and was keeping a few none native species at the time. But seeing an Elephant Hawkmoth for the first time made me realise just how incredible our own native species are.

That evening, my beautiful moth disappeared into the summer night.

But that wasn’t the end of the journey.

It was only the beginning.

The Next Generation

Fast forward to July 2025.

I happened to stumble across around 25 tiny Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars munching away on the willowherb that was growing in my front garden.

Needless to say, I couldn’t leave them there!

I moved them from the front garden into a large netted cage in the back garden, where I could keep an eye on them and they would be protected from predators.

And so began the daily routine.

Clean out the frass. Add fresh food. Clean out more frass. Add even more food.

It’s a good job that willowherb grows so abundantly here!

They grew. And they grew. And they grew.

They changed from these tiny little green caterpillars, to these big chunky brown caterpillars. You can’t believe they are the same caterpillars, just at different points in their lives!

Eventually around Late August and Early September 2025, they began to pupate. One by one, they disappeared into their little cocoons, and once again I had to wait.

This time the wait lasted until May 2026. Then the first moths began to emerge.

These first few nights were not ideal nights for releasing moths. It was wet. My moths stayed with me for a couple of days, however this meant I got some surprises. Eggs!

Some of my moths laid eggs before I managed to release them.

And just like that, the cycle started all over again.

Hundreds of Caterpillars Later…

My summer of 2026 was spent feeding and caring for hundreds of Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars, along side hundreds of Peacock butterfly caterpillars and Tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillars that, just like last year, were rescued from the verges!

There were cages to clean, frass to remove, food to collect and caterpillars to check on every day. Lots and lots of caterpillars. And lots and lots of willowherb (also lots and lots of nettle for the butterflies… which came with many stings!)

Now, as autumn arrives, those caterpillars are currently pupating. And so the waiting begins again.

Those pupae will begin to emerge in spring 2027.

From One To Hundreds

When I think back to that day in August 2023, when my neighbour knocked on my door holding one enormous brown caterpillar, I never could have imagined where it would lead.

From one caterpillar in 2023…

To around 25 caterpillars in 2025…

To hundreds of caterpillars in 2026.

What started as a curious encounter on my doorstep has turned into a huge part of my life and one of the things I love most about what I do.

I’ve gone from discovering a single Elephant Hawkmoth for the first time, to raising multiple generations.

And the best thing?

I don’t think this journey has an end in sight.

And honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Perhaps that’s the magic of the moth.