A Big Drinker

Drinker moths are apparently so called because their caterpillars are enthusiastic drinkers of dew.  They are everywhere at the moment - perhaps enjoying posing out in the open during the spring sunshine.  Very few predators eat hairy caterpillars such as the Drinker - the famous exception being the cuckoo - of which there do not seem to be many around as yet.  Happy days if you are a Drinker moth caterpillar...

A Wee Drinker

Most of the Drinker moth (Philudoria potatoria) caterpillars we are finding right now are big - but we found this tiny wee thing at Kintra today.
Carl

Drinker moth caterpillar (Euthrix potatoria)

These big caterpillars are very common at the moment.  This one was in Bruaich Jeraich.

Drinker moth

I found this fine hairy fellow in the garden this afternoon. I had to bring it indoors to photograph it as all it wanted to do was curl up and hide itself among the grass. The caterpillars of this moth appear in August and feed on various grasses until the weather turns cold, when they burrow down to hibernate in the bases of grass tussocks. They re-emerge about now and carry on feeding until June, when they pupate and hatch into quite a large pale brown moth (5-6 cm wingspan).
Malcolm