While on holiday in Croatia in early July this landed on my small son as we walked along the street. It flew off again almost immediately, but he was a bit freaked out. It was huge – almost two inches long. What was it? A Morrissey, Dublin
That was scary, right enough. It is the mammoth wasp – Megascolia maculata – Europe’s biggest wasp. The female is larger than the male with a body length up to 50mm, males are only 20mm in size. This is a solitary species of wasp. The female lays an egg in the larva of the Rhinoceros beetle and parasitizes it. It then hatches out and feeds on the larva. It develops over the winter in the surrounding soil and emerges the following summer. It visits flowers for nectar as an adult before mating and laying eggs again. Neither the wasp nor the Rhinoceros beetle occur in Ireland.
This small moth was seen by Roisin Sheerin on the ceiling of her home in Harold’s Cross in Dublin and by Enda Scanlon on a compactor at work in Ennis Co Clare. Both were curious to know what it was.
It is a Small Magpie moth. Moths are divided into two groups – macro-moths, the large ones and micro-moths which have a forewing length of 10mm or less. Many moth books only cover the macro-moths so finding out about micros can be more difficult. The Small Magpie is a micro-moth – a common enough species, whose larvae feed on mint and thyme. It is a day-flying species, visiting flowers for nectar and in the hope of meeting members of the opposite sex – considering them as a singles bar, as it were.
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We awoke recently to find this slug at the edge of the bed, some 20 feet from an open window. It had left a gluttonous trail across the carpet. We have a large Hosta on the patio but surely “indoors” would not normally be attractive? I read that broken eggshells or beer in a saucer are an effective deterrent. (More worryingly, my wife said that if it features in our bed, she’ll be gone!) Any advice would be welcome. Michael Hill
I can offer advice about the slug (you will have to try a different column for matrimonial guidance). This is the voracious Great Grey slug – Limax maximus, sometimes called the Leopard slug. Hosta plants are seemingly a magnet for slugs of various species – why people who don’t like slugs grow them is a mystery to me. But slugs don’t eat carpets, so it hardly was a gluttonous trail. It may boil down to a choice between the missus and the Hosta, as broken eggshells and saucers of beer – while they deter slugs – are not nice in the bedroom.
On Trá Mhór on Mweenish Island, near Carna, we saw dozens of these cuttlefish bones washed up in the sand. In 20 years walking this beach I’ve never seen so many. What might the explanation be? Philip Berman
Cuttlefish are molluscs and these bones are their internal skeleton. They have many tiny holes, which fill with gas and help them to float. They live for two years and die after spawning. It must have been a good breeding year for them this year.
I saw this bird on the greenway near Ballynahinch in Galway. What goose or duck will it be when grown up? Karin Joyce, Co Galway
This is a young Greylag Goose. True wild Greylag Geese are migratory and breed in Iceland, visiting us in winter, but escaped domestic Greylag Geese breed here and produce lovely little goslings like this.
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