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I often find the large caterpillars of this moth in the spring, feeding on reads along side the River Itchen in Hampshire, UK. These are larvae, which have spent the winter in hibernation. It gets its name from the larvae drinking droplets of rainwater, I do not know how true this is, but it is a nice name for a caterpillar I mostly find near water. When alarmed the large caterpillars curl up into a ball, protected by their hairs, which are quite irritable, they also mix these hairs into their cocoons from more protection as a pupae. I know this from rearing this species for photography many years ago. Moths are on the wing from July to August.
The caterpillars feed on grasses and reeds and grow to quite large size compared to the resulting moths. I have found full grown caterpillars sunning themselves in on tree branches, barbwire, bramble bushes and tree barks. The moth is also interesting to photograph, with its shrew like appearance of its head.
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