Four inch long caterpillar

[lornage]

I saw the longest caterpillar that I had ever seen I think it was last autumn but I'm not sure. I estimated that it was about 4 inches long. It had thick tufts of short black hairs but I can't remember its body colour. Are there many caterpillars this long? Can anyone identify this one from this description or show me possible identifications please?

[Dogghound]

Not matching your description in Autumn. Drinker and Elephant Hawkmoth are large, some of the other hawkmoth species are notably large too. Although most of the common species like eyed and poplar are around 70mm plus dont match your description. Where did you see it habitat and part of britain?

P.S Other than Deaths head hawkmoth, Convolvulus hawkmoth and Goat moth none are over 4inch in Britain (off the top of my head). The first two are very rare breeders.

[lornage]

Thankyou for your reply.
I have looked up pictures of all the moths that you have mentioned but none of them has hair tufts.
The place where I saw it is a rough wild area surounded by bunds between the pebbly beach and the tidal creek at a place called Tide Mills between Seaford and Newhaven on the South Coast.
I'm sorry that I can't remember the colouring or the time of year properly. I tried to find out what it was at the time but no-one I managed to contact could tell me what it was even though I was able to give them a better description. I didn't manage to find this website at that time.

[jaguarondi]

Fox moth caterpillar? Ok they're not quite 4 inches long but they're pretty big, quite common and have tufts of hair

[lornage]

Thankyou for your reply to my enquiry.
I have not been able to find a picture of a fox moth but I have found a description and picture of a Drinker moth caterpillar which makes me think that it might have been that one.