I came across an insect that had been caught in a spider’s web. It is a long, dark-blue or black insect with long orange legs, long black antennae and a protruding ovipositor at the tail.
Maureen Walsh
Newmarket on Fergus, Co Clare
It is a female wood wasp, Sirex noctilio, similar to the other horntail, Urocerus gigas, which is striped yellow and dark blue. The females lay their eggs in the wood of pines; these hatch and feed there for two or three years before pupating and emerging as insects.
My daughter-in-law found a lot of inch-long yellow grubs in spruce that had blown down and was being cut for firewood. They had made significant holes in the timber.
Hal Chavasse
Cappagh, Co Waterford
From the photograph you sent they are the larvae of the wood wasp, Sirex noctilio, mentioned above, which had not reached the pupa stage.
This unusual pigeon arrived in our garden. Could you tell me what type is it?
Fran Lambkin
Booterstown, Co Dublin
It looks like a Kazan tumbler, a bird that is prized by pigeon fanciers for its feathered feet.
I found a mushroom that has a green-blue cap, with white spots around the rim, fading to yellow ochre in the centre. The gills are brown. What is it?
Maurice Curtin, Cork
The fungus expert Kieran Connolly has identified it for the National Biodiversity Data Centre as Stropharia aeruginosa, or verdigris agaric. It is rare in these islands; the centre has 15 reports for Ireland. It grows in alkaline areas of beech woodland.
Ethna Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28 F978, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address