Attached is a picture of what we believe is a stick insect that cousins Ronan Kelly and Daire Dolan, aged 5, discovered on holidays in Tuosist near Kenmare. They couldn’t believe that Stick Man was climbing the walls of the house. Sheena Dolan, Mallow
This is the unarmed stick insect that was first recorded in Ireland in the 1960s. It originally arrived as eggs in soil among exotic tree ferns imported from New Zealand and has become naturalised in the mild, moist climate of Kerry and Cork. All the Irish specimens are female. These reproduce parthogenetically, which means they don’t need males in order to produce fertile eggs. They feed on brambles, fuchsia, heather and rosebushes.
While picking blackberries in the hedgerow, I came across this unusual growth on a bramble branch. Please can you tell me what it is? Jeremy Cooke, Kells, Co Meath
This has the wonderful name of robin’s pincushion. It is a gall caused by a tiny gall wasp Diplolepis rosae. The egg, which it lays on the wild rose, induces the gall in which the egg hatches, and the resultant grub grows and feeds. As the gall matures it turns bright red which is probably why it was associated with seamstress robins. Once the adult emerges from it, the gall will shrink and wither away.
RM Block
In late August my son took a photo of this insect, before squashing it, in Aungier Street, Dublin. I was badly bitten by Asian mosquitos while in the south of France recently, so I hope this is something else. Claire Wheeler, Ballsbridge, Dublin
It is not an Asian mosquito, also known as a Tiger mosquito, but an Irish one Culiseta annulata. While the female of this species is well able to bite humans in order to extract a feed of blood before laying fertile eggs, it doesn’t carry diseases such as malaria or dengue fever. Still its bite can be very painful, so your son was taking no chances. Asian mosquitoes are now in France and could indeed come here in the form of eggs stowing away on ships. Some of them do carry diseases.
Once again this year I tried out ‘No mow May’ and put up my feet instead of cutting our front lawn. I was pleasantly surprised to spot a cluster of these odd-looking orchids in due course. Are they rare? Hugh O’Callaghan, Co Limerick
These are bee orchids, a lovely reward for your restraint. When grass is not mowed during the fast-growing season in May, other species whose seeds may have been in the soil for many years get a chance to grow without having their heads cut off. Bee orchids are a scarce native perennial usually found growing in sand dunes and on calcareous grasslands – which is what your front lawn must have been before your house was built. Orchid seeds can last for very many years in soil.
Here is a photo of a puffin in flight on the Saltee Islands in Wexford during the summer. Stephen Farrell, Co Kildare
This puffin is returning to its nest underground in a disused rabbit burrow with a beakful of food for its one chick. Sand eels are their preferred food and this puffin has managed to collect a fine beakful. But in truth sand eels are becoming scarce in our waters because they are trawled along with other small fish species to provide food for farmed fish. Sand eels prefer cooler water and climate change, which is warming up our seas means that sand eels, as cold-water fish, are moving farther north too and away from traditional breeding sites.
Please submit your nature query or observation, ideally with a photo and location, via irishtimes.com/eyeonnature or by email to weekend@irishtimes.com
