I found this on a beach in north Mayo. It’s about 2.5cm diameter. Is it a seed, a shell or a chocolate macaroon? Cillian Maughan (age 10)
From your picture it does have a resemblance to that nice French delicacy. But it is actually a sea-bean. This is the seed of a tropical vine that grows in the Caribbean, most likely a species of Mucuna. Seed are borne in pods, but when ripe they fall from the trees and can be carried by rivers out to sea and float here on ocean currents. Sailors who found these beans considered them to be lucky charms, so hold on to it.
This bird appeared in my Dublin garden recently. I have never seen it before. It appears to be a grey wagtail? Is it unusual for them to venture into city gardens? Francis Chance, Killester
It is indeed a grey wagtail, so called because the yellow wagtail, which is not native here, is a much brighter colour of yellow and so had first dibs on being called a yellow wagtail in English. It is recorded in Irish gardens during the Garden Bird Survey carried out by Birdwatch Ireland each year and is ranked 31st on the list of birds seen there. It is an insect-eating bird, feeding on flies, which it catches from flying out from a perch and grabbing them in mid-air. They are never seen far from water, so there must be a stream nearby.
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We came across a tree over the river Dodder in Milltown with huge numbers of its leaves covered in these little red bumps. Might they be larvae of an insect or perhaps some infestation of the plant? Coulcher family, Dublin 6
These are the galls of the willow redgall sawfly. They form on the narrow-leaved willows Salix alba and Salix x fragilis, and this gall is more likely to be seen than the adult sawfly. The gall is bean-shaped, starting off green but gradually turning red. It is smooth with a thick wall and protrudes from both the upper and lower leaf surface. Inside each one is a single larva feeding on the soft leaf tissue. After five weeks it drops to the ground and forms a cocoon. It overwinters in the soil as a cocoon and will emerge next June as an adult. After mating, the female will lay its eggs on willow leaves, and these will stimulate the formation of new galls.
We spotted this guy in late August while out walking near Caherdaniel, Co Kerry. It was about 7/7.5cm in length. What might it be? Kevin Hodnett
It is the caterpillar of the goat moth, Cossus cossus. This large moth flies at night in June and July and rests on tree trunks during the day, where it is perfectly camouflaged against the bark. The eggs are laid on the bark of ash, poplar or willow, and the larvae bore large tunnels into the wood. They take three to four years to grow fully and then they emerge and move a distance away to pupate in the soil. The caterpillars smell like a goat, hence the name.
I took this picture of the large red damselfly in Connemara during the first week of August. Paul Dunne, Lettermore, Co Galway
This is not a damselfly, but a dragonfly called the ruddy darter. The mature male, which this is, is the reddest of all the Irish species. It has a waisted and club-shaped abdomen, widest towards the rear, and black legs. It prefers wetlands in limestone areas, so it is unusual to find it so far west.
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