What a great find! Yes it is an ele hawk :) It will have been off in to bury itself in the soil and pupate I expect. They're called elephant hawk moths because the caterpillars have a "trunk" which you can't see here, but when it extends you can. (you can see that in one of my blog posts from a year ago, towards the bottom).
@roachling thanks Louise! I'm all excited I found one, never saw it before and I didn't realise they got that big (it was at least 6cm). After I showed our boys the caterpillar (they thought is was a snake), I covered it up again and found another one.
@overalvandaan Ik was bij Beb en las Uw comment. Sorry. Dat is niet miijn bedoeling. Bovendien bestaat het niet. Alleen in mijn foto`s. Ik maak het zoals ik vind dat het zou moeten zijn. Groningen viel me zo tegen met al die industrie en windmolens . Zou er niet meer naar terug willen.Toch wat leuke plaatjes kunnen maken.
Great shots on your blog of the caterpillar too!