Two giant and rare caterpillars have been found in the garden of a Radlett family's home.

Anna Dockerty, of Beech Avenue, found two Death Moth caterpillars on her jasmine plant.

She said: "We noticed a lot of droppings on our patio and originally we thought we may have had a rat or a mouse. My husband even went and bought some traps. This was a couple of weeks ago.

"When I looked up I saw a very fat caterpillar, about ten to 12cm, and there are two of them."

The bugs are believed to be the Death Moth caterpillar, which featured in the horror film, Silence of the Lambs.

The Death Moth caterpillar is rarely seen in the UK - it is commonly found in southern Europe and north Africa.

There have only been 23 records of this breed spotted in Hertfordshire, since the first one in 1892, and only five of these were of the caterpillar, the rest were of the moth in turns into.

Mrs Dockerty's two caterpillars are the first to have been spotted in Radlett.

Mrs Dockerty, who has two daughters aged eight and ten, said they have contacted the Hertfordshire butterfly conservation.

She added: "My daughters are very excited about this, although my youngest is a little scared of the creatures.

"One of them has created a film around itself and the other one tends to move around a lot, which we've named wriggly Jimmy."