Harold's mystery grub

SOMETHING strange is lurking at the bottom of Harold Parkin's garden.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Parkin, of Stone Hill, near Chiddingly, got up to find a flock of crows attacking something in the back garden.

'He went out to investigate and found an enormous caterpillar in the grass,' said his wife, Diana. 'I've never seen anything like it in my life.'

Even after sifting through numerous wildlife books, Mr and Mrs Parkin were unable to identify the 10cm (4in) grub, which is brown in colour with shaped markings and patches of white.

'It's unlike anything in our books,' said Mrs Parkin. 'I thought it might be an elephant grub. It would probably feed a crow for a week if they caught it.

'I don't really know what to do with it next. We really want to know what it is.'

After speaking to English Nature about the unidentified creature, Mr Parkin discovered that it may be a hawk moth larvae. If this is the case, it is a very rare find which, when hatched, will fly to Africa or the Far East.