Scorpions in Wicklow? Your nature queries answered

I was staying in a holiday home near Blessington lakes, Co Wicklow, and found what looked like a small scorpion (above) on the bedsheet as I was checking out. It was just about bigger than a two-cent coin.
Ronan Kelly, Naas, Co Kildare
It was indeed a scorpion, and looks like the yellow-tailed scorpion, Euscorpius flavicaudis. They are natives of southern Europe, but there is a colony of them in southern England, brought in on ships. They can be bought in some pet shops.

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My husband, Jerry Cowley, took this photo and we would like to know the name of the hoverfly.
Kitty Heslin, Kilpedder, Co Wicklow

It is the marmalade hoverfly and quite common all over the country.

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Could you explain why the acorns in the Phoenix Park have all mutated into these cancerous lumps?
Catriona Cunniffe, Louisburgh, Co Mayo

They are knopper galls caused by the gall wasp, Andricus quercuscalicis. It lays its eggs in the acorn buds of the pedunculate oak and causes these distortions. The female wasps that emerge lay eggs in the catkins of the Turkey oak; the knopper gall wasp requires both oak species to complete its life cycle.

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This insect landed on me in the sunshine. What is it?
Laura McDermott, Sandymount, Dublin 4

It is one of the shield bugs, the forest bug, usually found on trees and shrubs.

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Earlier in the summer Tom McLaughlin in Co Donegal sent a photo of the buff-tip moth that looked like a twig. In late August Conal Ryan sent a photograph of the caterpillars. Liam Kane of Blanchardstown sent this photo of a pristine painted lady butterfly.

• Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28F978, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address