Big brown furry caterpillar?

[dillondog]

Pls help me identify this caterpillar. We found it crossing a rural road & it didnt seem to heading for any particular kind of plants (we lost it in the grass verge eventually). Its the length of my forefinger and pretty substantial thickness, a rich brown colour and very hairy/furry. Along the full length of its body on each side there was a row of white spots, each with a blob of brown colour on them. Ive looked and looked online and cant see anything. Much appreciated.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

Oak Eggar maybe ?

neil

[Harry Eales]

Originally Posted by wildlifesnapper

Hi

Oak Eggar maybe ?

neil

That's certainly one possibility. The other is perhaps Fox Moth, but they do tend to lack the white spots. Another possibility is The Drinker Moth,. or even the Garden Tiger moth which also has the white spots along it's side.

Harry.

[dillondog]

Thanks guys. I think it's closest to the oak eggar but not exactly (pure brown with no black), but when I looked the pics up, it said the caterpillars can change appearance as they move to maturity (I didn't realise that) and some of the photos online were really quite different from early to late stages, so maybe ours was a inbetween stage!