Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries for Ethna Viney

I came across a three-cornered leek in full flower beside a stream on Slievemore Mountain, on Achill, near the deserted village. I don't think I've ever seen one before, and this species normally flowers in March and April.
Loki O'Loughlin
Celbridge, Co Kildare

Also called three-cornered garlic, it is a garden escape and an invasive species. The biological records have it on the mainland adjacent to Achill, but it hasn’t been reported previously from the island.

We would be grateful if you could help us identify the creature in a photograph that I took last autumn.
Seamus Gordon
Ballboe, Co Donegal

It is the caterpillar of the scalloped oak moth.

Doherty: I did not encourage civil disobedience over interconnector

---

Campaigners criticise Government scheme for pyrite-affected homes

---

Putting the heart back into the Glens of Antrim

---

Opposition to proposed Castleknock Lidl mounts

---

In the last days of December we came across significant numbers of Velella and another jelly, probably Pelagia, on Gurteen beach, near Roundstone. I don't remember seeing these in midwinter before. The water does seem a bit warmer than in other years.
Mark White
Spiddal, Co Galway

Strandings of both jellyfish are more usual in autumn. Their late arrival may well be due to rising ocean temperatures. There have been reports of strandings of by-the-wind sailors also from Donegal, and Kerry.

Is it unusual to have sweet peas in my garden on December 26th? They were always finished by mid-September.
Val Boylan
Shankill, Dublin

We have had unusual autumn and winter weather. Enjoy.

Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28 F978, or by email at : viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address