The very fat caterpillar

Spotted this huge green caterpillar on our walk up to the field with the dog this afternoon. It is about the size of a cigar and was moving very quickly. Mike discovered that it's a Waved Sphinx moth (or will be, next year), and it was heading off, having feasted on our trees, to find somewhere to pupate.

We now have six vegetable plots dug over and sown with buckwheat. There are seedlings appearing on the plots I sowed first, but whether they are buckwheat plants or something less desirable I can't yet tell.