I was gifted this house plant, a “mother of thousands”, and I am quite fond of it. However, I read online that these are illegal in some part of the world due to the risk they may pose to ecosystems. Is it dangerous to keep one here in Ireland? Aidan O’Leary, Dublin
Get a grip – it’s not illegal to have one here. Nor is it dangerous, unless you or your pets take to eating it. Its Latin name is Kalanchoe daigremontianum, not Cannabis sativa. The plant is native to Madagascar and cannot survive outdoor temperatures below 12 degrees, so it is hardly likely to run rampant in the wild here just yet, no matter what you read about it doing in Australia.
I take part in the Iwebs (Irish Wetlands Birds Survey) and count birds on Lough Cuilin in Co Mayo. A local woman, Eileen Bolger, sent me this photograph of a sand martin colony established on a dried turf face on a nearby bog. We both subsequently visited the site on April 9th and saw what looks like a well-established colony with at least 25 birds and using the holes as nest sites. Stephen Meaney
Sand martins are so called because they excavate their nesting tunnels in sandy riverbanks, eroded sand dune cliffs, or sand and gravel quarries. And in Ireland they have been known to use the old, dried faces of turf banks as they can excavate this material. This fact encouraged Clogher environmental group, with assistance from collaborators, to establish an artificial sand martin wall on Clogher Bog near Castlebar, which was launched last year during Heritage Week. Sand martins have declined so much due to habitat loss and a decline in the insect population that they are now on the amber list of birds of moderate conservation concern. They need all the help they can get.
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These can be seen at low tide on Dooneen Beach in Cork. Do you know what they are? Michael Barry
These are sand masons – marine worms that live inside a tube built of large sand grains. The top has a frayed appearance also made of sand, which helps to protect the delicate and sticky tentacles that wave about in the water when covered by the tide, trapping tiny food particles there. They live on the lower shore as they need to be covered by water most of the time.
This beautiful butterfly was sunbathing in my garden on March 19th. Every so often it closed its wings. Is it a little early for butterflies? June Hurley, Killiney, Co Dublin
This is peacock butterfly, which overwinters as an adult. Accordingly, it wakes up on any warm spring day that comes and typically is on the wing from March to June. It feeds on the nectar of dandelions and hawthorn to give it energy to mate and lay eggs on the common nettle, its larval food plant. The next generation fly from mid-July and overwinter from September.
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We spotted this dead frog in a pool near Ben Bulben. We were looking at the different lots of frogspawn and then spotted her. Finnian (6½) said she probably died from exhaustion after laying so many eggs. Is he right? Hilary and Finnian Cullinan, Sligo
Kind of right. Sometimes several males try to mate with a single female at the same time and the weight of all of them on top of her can cause her to drown. Female eggs are fertilised in the water – the act of mating causing them to be ejected from the female, which typically can live up to 12 years.
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