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I found this dead creature on my window last night and spent hours looking for something that could explain what this is. I was unable to inspect it in person though, because opening the window would make the creature fall down.

It is roughly three inches in length and has a wingspan of five inches. I found it in the UK in August.

Here are some pictures:

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It is a moth from the Sphingidae family (hawk moths). They are generally large, robust and often have lobed wings (like the one in your pictures). I'm not closely familiar with this group of insects, and not with species found in the UK, but the individual you observed is very similar to e.g. Laothoe populi (Poplar hawk moth), which is also found in the UK.

enter image description here (Laothoe populi, picture from Wikipedia)

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    $\begingroup$ what a beauty! +1 :) $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Commented Aug 23, 2015 at 15:40

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