The caterpillars can measure up to six-inches long

The discovery of the Death's Head Hawk Moth caterpillars, featured in the Silence of the Lambs horror film, took place in a garden in the village of Stockton.

The moth is one of the largest ever found in the UK and is rarely seen here.

Experts at the Butterfly Farm in nearby Stratford-on-Avon believes the caterpillars' mother will have flown all the way from North Africa to Britain earlier this summer.

After her journey, she laid her eggs on a patch of potatoes in the Warwickshire garden's vegetable plot.

Clive Coleman, who found the caterpillars eating his potato plants, said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw them.

"They were the biggest caterpillars I've ever seen in my life and when I picked them up they started waving their heads and making a clicking noise."

Menacing noise

The caterpillars grow up to six-inches long and are bright yellow in colour with purple stripes along their sides.

If provoked they will pull up their head and make a menacing clicking noise with their jaws.

The caterpillars pupate in soil and emerge as a bizarrely-patterned moth a few weeks later.

It is known to enter bee hives to feed on honey where it emits a loud squeak like a queen bee.

The adult moth gets its name from the strange skull and crossbones pattern on its back and for this reason has many associations with mythology.

In ancient times they were seen as a symbol of war or disease and in more recent times have gained cult status as the insect stars in The Silence of the Lambs horror blockbuster.

The moth is named after the skull and crossbones on its head

Foreign specimens

In the film the pupa of the moths were placed in the dead victims' throats by the serial killer.

Tim Jenkins from the Butterfly Farm said he received a report on Wednesday that two more caterpillars had been found at Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire.

One was also found earlier this month at the University of Wales' research centre in Abergwyngregyn, just outside Bangor and another in a garden in Dagenham, Essex.

The Butterfly Farm in Warwickshire has had reports of other unusual foreign specimens, probably tempted to Britain's shores by the unusually hot summer temperatures.

They say this year has seen an increase in the number of Painted Lady Butterflies, which also migrate from North Africa and Southern Europe.

There have also been many sightings of the Hummingbird Hawk Moth which hovers at flowers to feed just like a real hummingbird.

But the rarest specimen was a Convolvulus Hawk Moth, brought into the Butterfly Farm by a member of the public.

This moth holds the record of the largest wingspan of any insect known in Britain at 3-4 inches.

A native of the Mediterranean it is one of the strongest flying insects and can fly over 1,000 miles in just a few days.