Happy nature news to make you smile (thread)

In September my neighbour found a ginormous caterpillar in the garden and called me down to look.

I was amazed!

#Nature #HappyNews #Moths

We looked it up and saw it was an elephant hawk moth caterpillar.

We decided to keep it as a pet to watch its lifecycle.

I had a butterfly hatching mesh from @insectlore and we turned it into a habitat filled with all the things it likes to eat.

Can you spot him?

We called him Nicholas "Hawky" Hawksmoth after the architect Hawksmoor because my neighbour is studying architectural history. Plus it's very apt.

(This gives it male pronouns but we do not know its sex.)

He settled in nicely in the cool dry stairwell and I would surreptitiously swipe bits of people's fuscias and a particular type of weed to bring him fresh food every day.

Here he is awaiting his fresh food. He looks a bit like a snake doesn't he

Elephant hawk moths don't dangle when they turn into a chrysalis, they bury themselves. So I gave him a tub of dry leaves and bark.

Soon he was rummaging in the leaves and then went quiet.

After a couple of weeks to let him harden I checked and saw he was a brown chrysalis.

Then we waited. For 7 months

Until today!! When he finally HATCHED!

He has a bright pink fluffy tummy and green stripes on his back.

See how pink he is!

We made sure his wings looked dry and strong then took him outside for release into the wild

He climbed onto my hand and let me lift him out

He sat on my hand and let me take his picture for a moment while he flapped his wings.

Look at his fluffy pink tummy, his big eyes and his green stripes

Then he hopped onto the flower I showed him and paused before flying away into the wild. Happy and free.

Bye Hawky!! Have a happy life in the wild!

Here's a video.
(No sound because my neighbour was talking about something irrelevant)

Update: I cleaned out his habitat, a bit sad that he's gone but hoping he's having a nice time in the wild, and found his cocoon. It's about an inch and a half long and you can see where he climbed out