Mushroom found in Wexford woods is a storybook favourite but highly poisonous to humans
I am in 2nd class in Sheilbaggen NS Co Wexford and I love anything to do with nature . On my walk recently, I was very lucky to find a fly agaric mushroom in Kelly’s Wood in New Ross. Is this a rare mushroom? I was so excited to bring my find into school to show everyone. I can’t believe I found such a magical mushroom. Liam Óg Furlong (seven ). Yes, this is a fly agaric mushroom. It is relatively rare, with only 60 records nationwide in the National Biodiversity Data Centre . Many are from Co Wexford, where this woodland species – known in Latin as Amanita muscaria – grows. It is considered highly poisonous to humans and to the flies from which it takes its English name. Despite this, its vivid red colour makes it a favourite in storybook illustrations. I hope you washed your hands thoroughly after showing your exciting find to your class. I found this on a tomato plant in my greenhouse at Enniskerry in late August. It seems to be the caterpillar of the Convolvulus hawkmoth. It found its way out of the greenhouse and was last seen making its way into some nearby undergrowth. Will it survive? Alison Burton, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. It is much more exciting than that. This is the caterpillar of the death’s-head hawk moth, the adults of which have a skull and crossbones marking on their back, and squeak when they feel threatened. These moths are a migratory species and visit us from Africa in warm summers. It overwinters as a chrysalis, so this one was off to burrow into the soil and pupate. However, so far, they have not been known to survive our cold Irish winters. We spotted this in a hedgerow in a field in Meath while out picking blackberries with the kids. We haven’t seen anything like this before. Jane Burton, Painestown, Co Meath This is the charmingly named robin’s pincushion. It is a gall caused by a tiny gall wasp Diplolepis rosae. The egg, which it lays on the wild rose plant, induces the gall in which the egg hatches, and in which the resultant grub grows and feeds. As the gall matures it turns bright red, which is probably why it was associated with seamstress robins. Once the adult emerges from it, the gall will shrink and wither away. We saw this jay in our back garden in Stillorgan. Are jays not woodland birds? S Lee, Stillorgan, Dublin They are indeed woodland birds and play an important role in woodland regeneration due to their habit of collecting and burying acorns individually in the ground for their winter stores, often more than they need. They have been recorded in about 10 per cent of gardens so you were lucky. I photographed this bug on the garden path. The internet tells me it is a western conifer seed bug that normally occurs in America. Is there a danger of it being an invasive species? Ursula Mattenberger, Bray This shield bug was also seen in Ireland by Colette Enright and by Geoffrey Michael in Avoca so the internet will have to keep itself up to date. In fact, the National Biodiversity Data Centre has at least 14 records of this species from as far back as 2009 when it was first recorded in Co Wexford. It now occurs along the east and south coasts where it lives on conifer trees in plantations, parks and gardens. It hasn’t displaced any other shield bug species, and it does not harm trees so can hardly be called invasive. Please submit your nature query or observation, ideally with a photo and location, using the form below or by email to weekend@irishtimes.com