The Cottage Smallholder

A caterpillar

I'd agree with toni, however, can't seem to make picture any bigger, so can't be certain...was it in your garden Martin?

just used the add picture option on the post and took the picture URL from my flickr account- it has worked before.

The caterpillar is that of a Mullein moth - we have two self seeded mulleins (verbascum) in the garden- the second time in 10 years that we have had them sprout up. They are biennials plants.

The one this caterpillar is on is over 7ft tall now, about half of it is the flower spike.

This is a night flying moth- the caterpillars can strip the leaves quite quickly  and when they pupate they bury themselves underground and can take up to 5 years before emrging as a moth.

So far I think the caterpillars have been predated as most of the leaves are intact on the plant- but time will tell- they also attack buddleia plants.

I won't wait for five years for it to pupate to see. Here is a picture from the internet of a Mullein Moth Caterpillar- you can see the similarity to my picture.

I have inserted my picture again- lets see if it opens now