Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries for Ethna Viney

I found this jellyfish on Carrowmore Strand, Louisburgh. Does it sting if it is dead?
Olivia Kennedy

It is the lion’s mane jellyfish and it stings even when it is dead.

We found this moth on a wall near Hook Head lighthouse.
Frank Donnelly, Ballymitty, Wexford

It is the garden tiger, which flies between June and September.

Endangered lion-tailed macaque born at Fota Wildlife Park

---

Tech hub for former Dún Laoghaire ferry terminal gets green light

---

Severe flooding in North as month’s rain falls in afternoon

---

This moth was in my bathroom a couple of weeks ago. What is it?
Séamus Walsh, Barntown, Wexford

It’s the brimstone. You’d normally see it in hedgerows as its caterpillars feed on hawthorn.

This creature flew past me and landed in a container of water.
Maura McPhillips, Smithboro, Co Monaghan

It’s a sexton beetle, a scavenger. Sexton beetles, sometimes working in pairs, bury small carcases of rodents or birds by excavating under them. They then lay their eggs nearby and both adults and larvae feed on the carrion.

A blonde/leucistic hedgehog has shown up here recently and we are wondering if anyone else has come across one.
Trish Griffin, Shillelagh, Co Wicklow

Leucistic or blonde hedgehogs occur because of a genetic mutation. Unlike the albino condition, the animal has black eyes. They are very rare except on North Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands and Alderney in the Channel Islands.

These photos of bumblebees swarming on thistles were taken on Benbulben, Co Sligo. Do they swarm around a queen?
Joe Flynn, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford

Bumblebees do not swarm around a queen. These are more likely to be feeding on honeydew produced by aphids, of which the heatwave produces an explosion.

Eye on Nature has had more than a dozen queries and photos of elephant hawkmoth caterpillars. This photo was sent by Catherine McDonald, Dublin 3.

Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28F978, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address.