Beware of the beast

This apparently unassuming furry caterpillar is in fact a beast to be reckoned with in the countryside and forests around Sontule. Poke him with a stick and he won't roll up, as most English caterpillars do, but will instead attack with surprising ferocity - he moves quickly and you really feel the resistance against the stick in your hand. If he were to get you, he would first bite you and then, to make matters worse, he would quickly urinate on the bite, leaving an open infected wound causing what has been described to us as 'an intense, burning pain'. We found him on a big rock and could quite easily have sat on him. We had a lucky escape.