A September Letter from Val

Dear EEG Members,

I had an unusual find, watering the fuchsias - I realised one was completely leafless . Then right on the tip, finishing off the rest of the plant, was this huge caterpillar as long as my finger, dark brown with at first glance huge eyes (false).

Looking it up I think this is an elephant hawkmoth. Have some wild fuchsias so it should be happily munching these. Are these fairly rare?

Green woodpecker round the pond, finding ants. The magpies have eaten eggs or babies of blackbird, not a baby around, but they (magpies) have 6 large babies dashing around. Bluetits and small birds seem to be OK.
Lovely meeting you at the Green Fair.
From Val

Picture of fuschia magellanica courtesy of Wikipedia.