2024
Haws on Whitethorn
Haws on Whitethorn Look out for haws on whitethorn and note where they are occurring – on older wood. Treeline hedges where whitethorn has grown into single stem trees with full canopies full of haws at this time of year. Topped hedges with occasional whitethorn trees, which have been allowed grow within […]
21 August 2024
Powdery Mildew on Whitethorn
Powdery Mildew on Whitethorn Look out for powdery mildew on whitethorn hedges. The white powdery coating on the leaves is a disease but plants will out-grow this. Farmers appear to be more aware of diseases on newly planted hedges because of the fireblight scare and are relieved when powdery mildew is diagnosed. […]
16 August 2024
Yellow Meadow Ants
0 Yellow Meadow Ants Look out for anthills in grassland, home of the yellow meadow ant. They are yellowy brown in colour and live underground. These remarkable ‘farmer’ ants have influenced soil structure and composition over the millennia. Their digging creates mounds of earth beneath which are cities full of worker ants and […]
6 August 2024
Scarlet Waxcap
Scarlet Waxcap Look out for scarlet waxcaps, one of our waxcap fungi found in tightly grazed areas in old grasslands. It is small, red fungus with a domed, convex cap at first, which eventually becomes flat. The stem is also red and the gills are orangey-red. Brightly coloured fruiting bodies of waxcap […]
29 July 2024
Jellyfish
Jellyfish Look out for compass jellyfish, common off south and west Irish coasts, where many Gaeltacht students learn about smugairle róin. Jellyfish have a very simple body with no heart, bones, liver, brain or lungs. They have stinging cells that they use to capture food and for protection. They feed on fish […]
23 July 2024
Water mint
Water mint Look out for water mint with purplish leaves and stems, easily identified by the familiar minty smell when crushed. Oval serrated pointed leaves are in in opposite pairs on stiff square four-sided stems. It is widely distributed throughout Ireland, growing along watercourses and in wet grassland, creeping along by underground […]
12 July 2024
Bog asphodel
Bog asphodel Look out for bog asphodel, a positive peatland indicator plant in ACRES. It is a short plant with bright yellow flowers arranged in short spikes. In the centre of the star-like arrangement of petals are conspicuous furry stamens with orange anthers at the tips. Leaves are slightly curved narrow blades […]
10 July 2024
Devil’s bit scabious and marsh fritillary butterflies
0 Devil’s bit scabious and marsh fritillary butterflies Look out for devil’s bit scabious and marsh fritillary butterflies as pictured on the farm of Phil and Eleanor Cussen in Tipperary. Females lay hundreds of eggs on the underside of leaves. Larvae hatch and spin a web forming a protective silk sheet and feed […]
3 July 2024
Yellow Rattle
0 Yellow Rattle Look out for yellow rattle with small yellow flowers. They have an upper overhanging lip and a lower lip with two purplish flaps protruding in between. Flowers emerge from large green pouches. As flowers fade and plants dry out, seeds rattle inside the pouch, giving the plant its name. Toothed […]
3 July 2024
Yellow flag iris
Yellow flag iris Look out for yellow flag or wild iris, our only native iris species with large dramatic showy yellow flowers with three wide downward-pointing petals and three narrow smaller upward-pointing petals. They grow on tall stalks up to a metre high surrounded by pale green, wide, firm, sword or strap […]
16 June 2024