Eye on Nature: What is this giant-faced fly I came across in Mayo?

What is this giant yellow-faced fly that I came across in large numbers on forestry fringes in Glenisland, Co Mayo? – Loki O’Loughlin This is a parasitic fly aptly called Tachina grossa. The female lays eggs on live caterpillars of the oak eggar moth and the fox moth. The fly larvae then develop inside the living host, devouring it while it is still alive, non-essential organs first, and eventually killing it when ready to pupate.

I have grown potatoes for a number of years mostly in grow bags, but this year they are in the ground. I have never seen the flowers change into little tomato-type pods before. – Kathleen Conlon, Belfast The pollinators have been busy in your garden. These are the fruits of the potato plant which contains true potato seeds. The tubers we plant each year are not seeds – even though they might be called seed potatoes. Don't even think of eating these little fruit – they are poisonous.

My sister Ava and I were eating our sandwiches near Barley Cove beach when this guy marched up as if he wanted a bite. Do you know who or what he or she is? – Daniel Shorten (age 10) I do. It is a beetle called the rose chafer which much prefers eating flowers to sandwiches. Both sexes are similar.

I got this beautiful deciduous tree from a dear friend over 20 years ago. He said at the time that it was a fossil tree recently discovered, called a dawn redwood. – Sean Ó Díomasaigh The dawn redwood – Metasequoia – was only known as a fossil of a tree that formed great forests between 90 and 5 million years ago. It was discovered growing in Lichuan in China in the 1940s.