Ynghylch

The oak eggar is a large, furry moth that can be seen flying in late spring and summer. Males are active during the day, flying fast and low over the vegetation as they search for resting females. They have feathered antennae to help them follow pheromones released by newly emerged females. The females can fly too, but do so at night, when they are sometimes attracted to lights.

Oak eggars are found in a wide range of habitats, from heathlands and moorlands to grasslands, hedgerows, sand dunes, and fens. They can thrive in so many places because the caterpillars aren't picky. They feed on a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers, including bramble, heathers, and blackthorn. Caterpillars appear in mid-late summer, are inactive over winter, then start feeding again in spring. In early summer, they pupate on the ground, amongst vegetation, in a tough brown cocoon.

Oak eggars in the north of the UK are larger and darker. They're classed as a separate subspecies, known as northern eggar. They have a slightly different lifecycle. As with oak eggar, they spend their first winter as a caterpillar, but instead of pupating at the end of spring they continue to feed until autumn. They then spend the winter as a pupa, emerging as adults in their second spring.