Live near a town? Got food or smelly shoes? Foxes and badgers may pay you a visit
I've taken some images of a
badger and fox
who visit our garden in south county Dublin. Here is a picture of them both here at the same time.
Jennifer O'Neill, Dublin
Foxes are now more abundant in urban areas than in the countryside. The average urban fox territory can be as low as 20 hectares, whereas it can be up to a 100 hectares in rural areas. They are common visitors to gardens, where they will scavenge on any food they can find, even smelly shoes left outside. Badgers are not as frequently seen but they do visit gardens with lawns. They dig holes to catch earthworms, which can form up to 40 per cent of their diet.
Indian meal moth, supplied by Claire Hearty
We have had an ongoing issue with these insects in our kitchen since just before Christmas. We would like to know what they are and how we can encourage them to leave our house. They fly around and also seem to have larvae. We have disinfected all cupboards, drawers and surfaces, to no avail.
Claire Hearty
This is an Indian meal moth, a species that attacks a wide variety of foodstuffs such as grains, dried fruit and nuts as well as pulses and spices. While native to tropical and subtropical regions, they have been around these parts since 1847. You need to inspect all your dried food stores, throw out any that are contaminated and keep the rest in sealed containers, not just the paper bags they came in.
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long-tailed field mouse, supplied by Elaine Foxton
While doing a clean-out of the garden shed in Ferns recently, I swept up this guy along with some clay that had fallen from under the lawnmower. At first I thought it was a mouse and then, on closer inspection, saw the very long tail and bushy whiskers. Can you enlighten me please?
Elaine Foxton
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It is a mouse – not a house mouse but the wee sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie that Robbie Burns found in his ploughed field in 1785: a long-tailed field mouse, Apodemus sylvatica. This native species has a tail that is longer than its body and long whiskers that are vital for finding its way in the dark. They count long grass pasture among their preferred habitat as well as hedgerows and field boundaries, so go handy with the lawnmower. Another reason to subscribe to no-mow-May.
wolf's milk slime mould, supplied by Una Thompson
I saw these little blobs on an old tree root in Dromore Wood in south Kerry. I think they may be known as wolf's milk.
Una Thompson
This is a slime mould, probably Lypogala terrestre, which is common throughout Killarney National Park, so no surprise that it would be in Dromore Wood as well. It has been called wolf's milk in English because they secrete an orange-pink substance, which people long ago thought was the colour of wolf's milk. Who knew? Slime moulds are classified as different organisms to fungi. They don't form a mass of hyphae in the wood substrate as fungi do but rather form masses of protoplasm, called plasmodia, which creep about engulfing particles of food.
Bee-eater, supplied by Derek Brennan
This bee-eater was around the parish of Bunbeg in Donegal during the first week of May.
Derek Brennan (Donegal overseer of IWebs)
This is the European bee-eater. These birds normally nest in southern Europe and north Africa and over-winter in southern Africa. They eat bees and other flying insects such as dragonflies, darting out from a perch to catch them in mid-air. Once they have their catch
, they bash the bee or wasp against a branch to remove the sting and venom. This one has caught a large bumblebee. There are one or two sightings here most years.
Please submit your nature query, observation, or photo, with a location, via
irishtimes.com/eyeonnature
or by email to weekend@irishtimes.com
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Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘I'm not even a bit stressed,' Honor goes, ‘I haven't done a focking tap for these exams'
Sorcha thinks we should maybe check on Honor and there's an air of definite excitement in her voice when she says it? Yeah, no, it's the night before the stort of the Leaving Cert and my wife is absolutely determined that this should be one of those mother-daughter moments. She goes, 'The Leaving Cert puts – oh my God – so much pressure on young people. But it's not the be-all and end-all. I read an orticle online about all the famous people who failed the Leaving Cert.' I'm there, ' I failed the Leaving Cert – in fairness to me.' She's like, 'I'm talking about people who went on to actually achieve things?' READ MORE And I'm there, 'Yeah, no, thanks for that, Sorcha.' 'I just remember that – oh my God – my Mom had this amazing, amazing talk with me the night before I storted mine ? She just said, you know, the importance of exams is, like, totally overblown and that the Leaving Cert shouldn't define you for the rest of your life.' 'That's easy for you to say. Didn't you get, like, maximum points?' 'Well, not quite maximum points? I got, like, a B in Honours English, remember?' How could I forget? Her old man spent years appealing it. I think the case was still trundling through the courts when she was pregnant with Honor. 'Come on,' she goes, 'let's go and talk to her,' and I follow her up the stairs to Honor's room. Sorcha knocks and she's like, 'Honor, dorling?' then she pushes the door and looks around it like she's sticking her head in a lion's mouth. Honor isn't studying. That's the first thing I notice. She's sorting through her wardrobe and taking photographs of herself in various outfits with one hand on her hip and her cheeks sucked in. Sorcha goes, 'We're sorry to bother you, Honor. We were just wondering how the study was going?' I don't know where she's getting this we from? Honor's like, 'It's going great – as you can probably see.' 'Well,' Sorcha goes, 'we just wanted to say that, even though it may seem like it now, the Leaving Certificate is not the be-all and end-all.' I'm there, 'I'm living proof of that, Honor.' But Sorcha's like, 'Why don't you leave the talking to me, Ross? What we're trying to say, Honor – and I'm echoing my own mother's words here – is that it doesn't define you as, like, a person ?' Honor's there, 'Why do I buy so many clothes in taupe? It looks so focking meh on me.' Sorcha goes, 'The important thing – as my mom famously said – is that you turn out a happy, well-adjusted girl with a fully functioning moral compass.' Honor's like, 'Does this top make my face look washed out? You can tell me.' [ Honor goes, 'I'm editing the school yearbook photographs of anyone who pissed me off' Opens in new window ] 'What I'm saying,' Sorcha goes, 'is that our results-focused secondary education system sometimes forgets that schools have a role to play in preparing young people for life and not just exams.' 'I hate all my focking clothes.' 'I was just thinking back to my own Leaving Cert – wasn't I, Ross? At the time, I thought it was the most important thing in the world. But if you were to ask me what did I get in, say, Maths or History now, I'd have to actually rack my brains.' 'Didn't you get As in everything?' Honor goes. I'm like, 'Except English – and her old man spent eight years in the courts trying get her B upgraded.' Honor gives her one of her crocodile smiles and goes, 'So much for results not being important. Anyway, for your information, I'm not even a bit stressed?' I'm like, 'Oh, that's good – isn't it, Sorcha?' And Sorcha's there, 'Er, yeah – I suppose it is.' 'As a matter of fact,' Honor goes, 'I haven't done a focking tap for these exams.' And I'm like, 'I'm going to say fair focks to you, Honor. I think I speak for both of us when I say you've put our minds at ease. Come on, Sorcha, let's leave her to it.' But Sorcha's mind isn't at ease? Outside on the landing, she goes, 'What do you think she meant when she said she hasn't done a tap?' I'm there, 'Excuse me?' 'Like, did she mean it in the same way that I used to say it? Look, I'm not saying I was a secret studier – which is what all the girls used to say about me – but I was, like, naturally bright and I had an amazing, amazing memory.' 'Again, fair focks.' [ Honor is staring at Brett like he's an ATM and she's sitting in a JCB, trying to work the levers Opens in new window ] 'Or was she saying that she hasn't done a tap in the same way that – no offence, Ross – you didn't do a tap, as in, like, literally?' 'What does it matter? The important thing is that she's a happy girl with a fully functioning whatever-you-said.' 'Yes, Ross – but within reason.' 'Within reason?' 'I mean, it's also important that she gets into a good college. And into a degree course that's, like, high points.' 'But I thought you said–' 'Never mind what I said. What the fock is she doing in there?' 'I think she was questioning some of her 2024 wardrobe choices.' She goes, 'Did she even have a book open?' and before I can answer no, she bursts into Honor's room again, with no knock this time, and she's like, 'Why aren't you studying?' Honor goes, 'Excuse me?' Sorcha's there, 'You have an exam tomorrow! Where are your books? Where are your cog notes?' [ 'That picture The Last Supper is weird. They're all sitting on the same side of the table' Opens in new window ] Honor's like, 'I thought you said the Leaving Cert doesn't matter.' Sorcha goes, 'I didn't mean it literally doesn't matter. Oh my God, what happens in the next fortnight is going to shape the rest of your life, Honor! What are you going to do if you don't get into college? Stort an OnlyFans account? Live on the streets? Become a ketamine addict?' Honor looks her in the eye and goes, 'I have to leave the exam an hour early tomorrow. I have, like, a nails appointment?' Sorcha ends up totally flipping out and I have to put my orm around her shoulder and escort her out of there like my old dear being helped out of the prosecco tent at Bloom. She's like, 'You might be fine with having a daughter who fails her Leaving Cert, Ross, but I am not.'
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Changing surnames after marriage: ‘If it's good enough for Amal Clooney, it's good enough for me'
Timothy Harnedy, a data engineer, didn't have to think twice about changing his surname to that of his wife Deirdre's after getting married in 2014. The decision was 'quick and easy', he says, as it was important to him that they had a shared family name and important to his wife that she kept her name. Harnedy, from Cork, is just one of many readers who wrote to The Irish Times to share their opinions on women changing their names after marriage following a recent column by Áine Kenny , who bemoaned what she considers the 'normalisation of symbolic control' in heterosexual relationships. Harnedy explained how, in the internet age, he realised his name was not a unique identifier. So the 'simple solution' to adopt his wife's surname made them both happy. Some people close to him continue to struggle with their decision, Harnedy says, and they still receive post on occasion addressed to Mr and Mrs with his birth surname. READ MORE It is thought that women have been changing their surnames to their husband's upon marriage since as far back as the 15th century. A 2023 study conducted by the US-based Pew Research Centre found that 79 per cent of women took their husband's last name, 14 per cent kept their own last name and 5 per cent went for a double-barrelled option. Small studies show that among LGBTQ married couples, the majority of individuals opt to keep their own last name, followed by double-barrelled names. Catherine Crichton, who lives in Dublin, chose to change her surname after getting married. 'I thought feminism was about a woman's right and freedom to make her own decisions in life? That must include what name she wishes to be known by after marriage,' Crichton says. Catherine Crichton in Glasnevin, Dublin. Crichton chose to change her surname after getting married. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill In her opinion, taking a new surname is an 'equally valid decision as keeping her previous one', pointing out that in many cases the 'original' name will have come 'from the woman's father'. 'Every woman's decision and the reasons behind it should be respected, and not criticised by other women,' Crichton says. 'If it's good enough for world renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, it's good enough for me.' Amal Clooney changed her surname from Alamuddin when she married the actor George Clooney in 2014. When Liam Garvey and his wife Áine Halpin got married 25 years ago, she said 'I suppose I'll change to Garvey', he recalls, to which he replied: 'Why on Earth would you do that?' 'Mrs Garvey was my mother; Áine Garvey was my sister; Áine Halpin was the woman I fell in love with and wanted to spend the rest of my life with,' he says. Garvey is occasionally assumed to be 'Mr Halpin' while his wife is sometimes thought to be 'Mrs Garvey'. 'Having a single family name is practical, but it does not have to be the husband's,' he says. Garvey and many other readers suggested adopting double-barrelled surnames as an option, pointing to Spain where children are often given both their mother and father's last names. Traditionally, the father's surname was first followed by the mother's, but since 1999 Spanish law has allowed parents to choose the order of their children's names. Academic Dr Deirdre Foley says that as a historian of women and gender in Ireland, changing surnames is a 'constant frustration' as women are 'harder to trace in archives and can erase their personal identity'. Referring to one well-known activist couple from Irish history, Dr Foley says: 'I have long admired how Hanna and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington chose to double-barrel their name, but they were certainly lucky that the names flowed well together.' Dr Foley acknowledges how some women may change their last name following family trauma or estrangement, but says the tradition is a 'hetero-patriarchal norm' and 'a huge inconvenience for women who do make the switch'. Dr Foley considers this issue as one that women 'can opt out of', unlike other 'greater inequalities such as rape culture, unequal pay, maternity leave and the staggering cost of childcare'. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington with her husband Francis Growing up in Tipperary, Nuala Woulfe says she was 'never too fond' of her first name but felt her surname was 'more interesting' and 'part of her identity'. For that reason, after getting married, she chose to keep her maiden name. 'I would have seen losing my surname as a blow,' Woulfe says. 'Keeping my maiden name has been a way to reconnect with my younger self, I haven't disappeared into my relationship nor do I belong to my husband. I think keeping your name makes a relationship more interesting.' Woulfe adds that should any of her three daughters choose to take their husbands' surnames, that would be fine by her. 'Women should do what they want, it's nobody's business but their own,' she says. Dave Barry, who lives in London, says he and his wife Zara Qadir have had 'zero issues' since his wife chose to keep her maiden name after they married 13 years ago. However, some family and friends continue to refer to his wife using his surname on Christmas cards and wedding invitations, despite being corrected, he says. Barry believes this behaviour 'stems from an underlying, insidious belief that a woman retaining her identity after marriage is somehow incorrect, or that in using her maiden name, she has somehow absent-mindedly forgotten her new name'. In the past he has been asked: 'How will people know you are married?' Barry feels the obvious response is: 'How is that anyone's business but ours?' [ The rise of the wedding content creator: 'I didn't want to spend so much money on a two-hour video that I'm never going to watch' Opens in new window ] Today, some women may choose to take their husband's surname for many different reasons. Perhaps they value having one 'family unit' name; they may be estranged from their birth family; they may prefer their husband's surname; or they may have fears about travelling with their children with different last names. One reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalls being stopped at passport control while travelling with her child and asked how she was related to her son. 'It was unnerving, you're thinking how do I prove it's my child,' she says. Once she showed his birth certificate, the problem was resolved. She always carries the birth certificate with her while travelling now, although she has not been stopped since. When getting married, she didn't change her name, explaining it would have felt 'weird' to do so. 'The tradition perpetuates the notion that a married man is the head of the household,' she says. In this day and age, she feels it is lazy to assume parents and children will have the same surname with so many examples of married women who keep their birth name; unmarried parents; same-sex parents and divorced or remarried parents. 'I understand passport officers need to be careful but there's no excuse for anyone else to presume,' she says.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Hare golf coursing: a mother and leverets up close in Carlow
I am a sports photographer and, while recently taking photos at Carlow Golf Club, I was told that a female hare was feeding two leverets about two metres away from the window. I went outside and slowly got as close as I could and took the shot. The hare did not move at all. Pat Ahern, Co Carlow This is a wonderful image of a working mother. Female hares can have two or three litters per year – this is her first this year. Hares do not use burrows, so the young leverets are born in a depression or form in longish grass. The mother spends little time with them, although she is always in cover close by. The leverets stay very still in the form, in which they were born, for the first few days and the mother returns around dusk to feed them – just one feed every 24 hours. After a few days the young disperse but they will return to the spot at feeding time for about three further weeks. Large red damselfly. Photograph supplied by Paul Dunne I saw this red damselfly on laurel in Connemara. Paul Dunne, Co Galway This is the large red damselfly, Pyrrhosoma nymphula. It is the first species of that group on the wing every year and marks the start of the season. It is our only red damselfly – the other red ones that appear later in the summer are all larger and stouter. It is common throughout Ireland, particularly in areas where the waterbodies are acid, such as bog pools and upland lakes. READ MORE Common wave moth. Photograph supplied by Darren Maguire I spotted this delicate and beautiful little chap on a whitethorn hedge in early May. I haven't seen one before; can you help identify it and hopefully provide some background? Darren Maguire, Co Meath This is a common wave moth. It overwinters as a pupa, and this one has now turned into an elegant adult. While it may be visiting the hawthorn for a feed of nectar to keep it going, it needs to find some willow or aspen because it is on the leaves of these trees that its caterpillars feed. These can be either green or brown with cryptic makings, and they really blend into their background to avoid being detected by pesky, sharp-eyed birds. May bug I found this beetle on its back and struggling on my patio. I turned it over and left it alone and a little while later it was gone. What is it? From Co Dublin by email Lots of queries and images of this insect have arrived during May – I assume from new readers from last June onwards. This is the May bug, which emerges and flies every year in May and always graces this column then. It is a large beetle, up to 30mm long and quite heavy for a beetle. The males have impressive antennae, which can open out like a fan – all the better to detect the presence of a female. As adults, they feed on the leaves of trees and shrubs and swarm around them at dusk in the hope of getting lucky. Barrel jellyfish. Photograph supplied by Judith Brassil What is this jellyfish seen on Curracloe beach on May Day? It was about 12 inches in diameter. Is it dangerous? Judith Brassil, Co Wexford This is an early sighting of the barrel jellyfish, which usually reaches our shores later in year when the water is warmer. Young fish and small crabs don't think it is dangerous as they often seek shelter in the protective tentacles. It can sting us however, although the sting is usually only mildly venomous. Please submit your nature query, observation, or photo, with a location, via or by email to weekend@
