Razorbills fight back after Star Wars takes over Skellig Michael island – The Irish Times

Here is a Razorbill on Skellig Michael in June. John Glynn, Kilrush

In the summer of 2023, about 400 razorbills were recorded there. These seabirds have been counted here since 1991, when 300 were counted. Numbers have increased since the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2014, when 200 were counted.

We had four of them on the camellias in our garden. I wrapped each one in a plastic bag before cutting it off the branch and throwing it in the trash. Are they wasp nests? I’m curious, as I’m allergic to insect bites. Patricia Williams

Wasp nests are made of chewed wood and are therefore papery. This is not a wasp nest at all, but a gall from camellia bushes caused by the fungus Exobasidium camelliae. Infection with Exobasidium spores results in the formation of white to cream-coloured galls, favoured by wet weather in early summer. The galls are initially hard and green in colour and are made of both plant and fungal tissue. As the infection progresses, the galls turn a cream colour, which comes from the numerous spores produced by Exobasidium. When fully grown, the galls are soft, variable in shape, often elongated (as in the picture) and measuring up to 15cm, with a smooth or wrinkled surface. Usually only a few galls form per camellia bush and the plant suffers little or no long-term damage.

I just came home from Berlin and found this beautiful butterfly in my garden. However, I don’t know what it is. Ita Delogu, Dublin

Well, you didn’t bring it anyway, as it’s a native species: the pale spotted moth. This is the female and it’s really very hairy. Hair can be irritating to the touch, so admire it from a distance.

I saw the beetle in mid-May on a dry, windy day. It first clung to a blade of grass, then spread its wings and sailed to the ground. It appeared to have thin underwings and was about 1 cm long. Irene Deisler

This is a click beetle, Ctenicera cuprea. Adults are usually seen from May to July. The males are particularly conspicuous, resting on the tips of grasses and on flowers of umbelliferous plants and thistles. When startled, they take flight and sometimes land on their backs on the ground. They must then right themselves by bending their bodies backwards until they rest on their heads and tail tips. Then they suddenly let go and leap upwards with a click like a trapeze artist, landing this time right side up. Their larvae are wireworms that attack plant roots and cause crop damage.

I would be grateful for your wisdom on this little mystery. This wriggly creature was discovered in the birdbath. The birdbath is fed by rainwater from the roof. The worm-like thing is about 140mm long. Could some small bird have coughed it up? Lorcan Leavy

It’s a thunderworm. After wet weather and thunderstorms in early summer, thunderworms can appear on plants overnight. These are long, thread-like roundworms that definitely weren’t there the day before. Now they’re here to lay eggs on the plants and then their work is done. These eggs are then eaten by grasshoppers and caterpillars and quickly hatch inside them. They grow by digesting the host’s bodily fluids. And when they’re big enough to manage on their own, they leave the host and live in the soil where we never notice them. After heavy rains in June, they can crawl onto plants in the garden or polytunnel, lay their eggs, die and the whole process then starts again. This one must have somehow gotten caught on a bird’s foot.

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