On digging out a rocky outcrop on my land in Wicklow I disturbed a creature I have never seen before, nor knew that it inhabited this island. It was about 20 cm in length, with a snake-like head, f0ur legs, and a short tail. It was brown in colour and very quick, but not shy. Is this a rare sighting?
John Kelly, Glencree, Co Wicklow.
It was a viviparous lizard and they are quite common in Ireland. (See Another Life April 20th).
Recently during a nocturnal examination of my garden I found a large earthworm with a small, caterpillar-like creature clinging to its tail. The creature was slender, grey and about one-and-a-half inches long; its head was reddish brown. Have you any idea what it might have been?
It was a leech.
This may have been another waxwing year. There have been three recent letters recording waxwing sightings: a flock of five in Clare that came in January and stayed until the end of March when they finished the berries in the host gardens. There were two reports from the northside of Dublin in mid-April, probably the same flock said by one observer to number 35.
Waxwings come to Ireland from Scandinavia in years when food is scarce, following a good breeding season. This happens now and again with gaps of many years in between their visits.
For the Record A hoopoe visited a garden in Colmanstown, Co Galway recently, and stayed long enough to be photographed and recorded on video.