Drinker moth<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: August to June in a variety of habitats, such as gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Dark and covered with brown hairs and golden speckles. A\u00a0row of white hairs runs down each side of the body.\n<\/p>\n
Fox moth<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: June to April in heathland and coastal grassland.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Hairy, with long dark hairs on the sides of the body and shorter orange hairs on top.\n<\/p>\n
Garden tiger<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: August to June in a wide range of habitats.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Mostly black and ginger, with longer white hairs.\n<\/p>\n
Cinnabar<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: July to September in grassy habitats.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Black and yellow stripes.\n<\/p>\n
Elephant hawk-moth<\/p>\n
\n The Elephant hawk-moth can be found in a variety of habitats, including gardens (Image: Helen Moore\u2019s Art & Photography\/Camera Club)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: June to September in a variety of habitats, including gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: A chunky green or brown caterpillar, with several eyespots at the front end and a spiky ‘tail’ at the rear.\n<\/p>\n
Privet hawk-moth caterpillar<\/p>\n
\n The Privet hawk-moth caterpillar is green and chunky, with purple and white stripes (Image: Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: July to September in a variety of habitats, including gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Green and chunky, with purple and white stripes on the body and a black and yellow horn on the rear.\n<\/p>\n
Puss moth caterpillar<\/p>\n
\n The head of the Puss moth caterpillar is surrounded by a pink patch (Image: Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: June to September in parks, gardens and wetlands.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: A green caterpillar with a dark, white-edged ‘saddle’. The head is surrounded by a pink patch, with false eyes making it look like a giant face.\n<\/p>\n
Mullein moth<\/p>\n
\n The Mullein moth is white in colour with horizontal yellow splodges across the body\u00a0 (Image: Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between April and July in a range of open habitats, including gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: White with horizontal yellow splodges across the body\u00a0and large black spots.\n<\/p>\n
Yellow-tail<\/p>\n
\n Yellow-tail caterpillars can be found between August and June in scrubby habitats (Image: Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between August and June in scrubby habitats, including hedgerows, woodland and gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Black with long, greyish-white hairs. On top, it has a pair of red lines, with a row of white blotches on either side of them. A red line runs along each side.\n<\/p>\n
Brown-tail<\/p>\n
\n The hairs on a Brown-tail caterpillar cause skin irritation so avoid touching them (Image: Sharon Wheeler\/Camera Club)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between April and May in scrubby habitats.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Black with long brown hairs, red spots on top and a line of white marks along each side.\n<\/p>\n
Peacock<\/p>\n
\n The Peacock caterpillar is black in colour with black spines and small white dots (Image: Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between May and June in a range of habitats where common\u00a0nettle is present.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Black with black spines and small white dots.\n<\/p>\n
Vapourer<\/p>\n
\n Vapourer caterpillars can be found between May and September (Image: Gary Moors\/Camera Club)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between May and September in woodland, parks and gardens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Grey and black caterpillar, with large tufts of hair, including a\u00a0mohawk of\u00a0yellow tufts on the back.\n<\/p>\n
Pale tussock<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between June and October on deciduous trees and other plants, including bramble.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: A bright green colour, with black bands between its\u00a0body segments, yellow\/whitish hairs, a row of yellow tufts on top and a red tuft at the rear.\n<\/p>\n
Small eggar moth<\/p>\n
\n Small eggar moth caterpillars can be spotted between April and July (Image: Mazz Blehs\/Camera Club)\n<\/p>\n
\n When can they be spotted: Between April and July.\n<\/p>\n
\n Appearance: Dark reddish-brown in colour with a whitish spot in the centre of the forewings and a whitish cross-line below.\n<\/p>\n
Public urged to look out for oak processionary moth caterpillars<\/p>\n
\n A warning has been issued by the Forestry Commission urging for people to look out for the oak processionary moth when out and about.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sightings of the moth can be reported via the TreeAlert portal<\/a>\u00a0or by\u00a0email to opm@forestrycommission.gov.uk<\/a>, including a photo and location.\n<\/p>\n \n The caterpillars are predominantly found in south east England.\n<\/p>\n \n They descend down\u00a0oak trees in a head-to-tail\u00a0procession, earning them their name.\n<\/p>\n \n They feed on the leaves as they move\u00a0which can negatively\u00a0impact the oaks growth.\n<\/p>\n \n This can weaken the tree and leave it more vulnerable to other stresses, such as diseases.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n The Forestry Commission adds: “Oak processionary moth caterpillars are covered in long hairs that can cause itchy rashes, eye and throat irritation and should not be touched under any circumstances.\n<\/p>\n \n “They also form silky white nests, ranging in size from as small as a 50 pence piece up to a melon.\n<\/p>\n \n “These nests discolour over the season, appearing dirty and brown by August.\n<\/p>\n \n “The nests also contain the hairs, and similarly should not be touched.\n<\/p>\n \n “The nests can be found on the trunk or the underside of branches of oak trees.\n<\/p>\n \n “Members of the public are urged never to try and remove or dispose of the nests themselves.”\n<\/p>\n \n Have you spotted any caterpillars around Dorset this year? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The insect is the larval stage of a moth or butterfly, and is distinctive for its long, worm-like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-638171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}