My house martin family.

The school blue tits have fledged and left the nest.  My housemartins (Martin and Suzie) have just finished their nest so pretty soon they will be laying eggs.

This is the nest a couple of weeks ago and one bird in the nest.

Pair of birds in nest.

Building work in progress, one bird in the nest, the entrance hole is being closed.

All done! See how small the entrance is. This will keep the nest warm and the wind out.  The nest is on a south facing wall so it will be warmed by the sun.

My next door neighbour, Michaela has a nest on the front of her house too.

The school bluetits.

THE BLUE TITS HAVE LEFT THE NEST.  YESTERDAY EVENING I COULD SEE ONE PEEPING OUT OF THE NEST AND THE PARENTS STILL FEEDING THEM.  TODAY THE BOX WAS SILENT AND I SPOTTED A BLUE TIT FAMILY OVER NEAR THE COMPOST BAYS.

Painted lady butterfly

Painted lady butterfly, breeds in the atlas mountains in Morocco in North Africa.  She lays eggs on wild plants which grow well when Morocco has a wet  winter.The eggs hatch into caterpillars  They eat for four weeks.  The temperature in Morocco rises in late spring and if the caterpillar remains the food plant will die in the heat and having nothing to eat the caterpillar would die also.  It finds a secure branch and starts to spin to hold itself to the twig.  Its skin shrivels and chrysalis forms inside the skin.  The chrysalis dries out and inside the creature metamorphasises into one of natures most wonderful flying machines.  A short while later the fully formed butterfly hatches out.  It takes some time to "pump up" its wings and then is ready for the long journey to Ireland.
They fill themselves full of nectar from plants in Morocco and then set off on their epic journey. They travel 2,500 k to Ireland. The butterfly reaches Ireland, breeds and lays eggs on Irish plants.. It dies and its offspring repeat the process  The cycle is repeated and the new butterfly returns to Morocco to breed.
We can often see this butterfly in our grounds in September.

The painted lady butterfly is the orange and brown butterfly on the yellow flower at the top of the picture.

Effects of wind on tree growth

Wind has a huge effect on tree growth.  As the tree grows and puts out new shoots the wind, particularly near the sea, blows salt laden air over the tree.  The salt and force of the wind burn the new shoots. The only new growth is on the sheltered side of the tree.  This is a hawthorn tree near the coast in Donegal. 

Look at the shape of the trees near the sea on the Skerries Road.

This is called "wind pruning".

Black birds.

The male black bird is black with a yellow beak.  The female is brown with an orange beak.

Can you see the difference.

They are both collecting worms to feed their nestlings.  Look closely at the male and you will see a worm in his beak.

Wildflowers in the school

Here are some of the more common wildflowers in the grounds this month.

Red Clover

Shamrock in flower

Daisy

Purple vetch.  a member of the pea family.



Planting up the raised bed of veg.

Here are members of the Garden Club planting the veg we sowed during the Incredible edible week.
We planted cabbage, peas, radish and onions.

Look at how our plants have grown in the polytunnel.

Sea Creatures

After a storm many interesting things are washed up on the beach.

 The egg cases of whelks.  Whelks are a type of sea snail, their shells are also commonly found on the beach.

The egg case of the dogfish.  These are called "mermaids purses and are attached to kelp (a type of sea weed).

Wild flowers

Wild flowers grow all around us.  Here is one called "Birds foot trefoil" (latin name Lotus corniculatus). This is abundant along the dunes in Skerries and on any poor ground.  Look closely at the seed pods just beneath the flower in the photo.  What do they look like? Can you guess where it gets its name? This plant is a member of the pea family.  Its flowers are the same shape as those of the garden pea and its seeds are in pods.

geology

Geology is the study of rocks and rock formations. Loughshinny has very famous cliffs.  They are one of the best examples of rock folding.  These folds are called "chevrons". The rock type is shale and limestone with some white quartz. The rock was formed about 330 million years ago and the folding occurred 290 million years ago.

Blue tits

Look who has moved in.  The nest box we won in the Corrin Hill competition has new tenants.  I spotted them looking at the box a couple of weeks ago. 

Remember never to disturb nesting birds.  They put a tremendious amount of energy into nesting and feeding their young and need peace and quiet to do this.

Beech tree

5th and 6th class are studying the Beech tree (latin name Fagus sylvatica).  The Beech is unusual in that it retains its leaves during the winter even though it is decidious.  The leaves turn brown in the autumn and are not shed.  I have shown the children that even if the wind blows or you shake the branch the leaves remain firmly attached. This also only happens when the tree is young or clipped into a hedge.  A fully grown beech tree looses its leaves like all other decidious trees.

As spring comes and the buds begin to swell the brown leaves start to drop and before long the fresh green leaves appear.

Summer Visitors

Birds that come to Ireland as summer visitors are called "passerines".  This just means that they breed in Ireland and leave, usually for Africa and southern countries. 
The most recognisable are Swallows, Swifts, and Housemartins.

They may look similar but once you learn to recognise and differentiate them you will never mix them up.

We will start with swallows
Swallows are small birds with dark glossy blue backs, red throats, pale under parts and long distinctive tail streamers. They are extremely agile in flight and spend most of their time on the wing. They are widespread breeding birds in the Northern Hemisphere, migrating south in winter.
 They have long pointy tails and swoop down to catch insects.Swallows are found in areas where there is a ready and accessible supply of small insects. They are particularly fond of open pasture with access to water and quiet farm buildings. They nest usually inside a building, so look out for them in disused houses, barns, and outbuildings on farms.

SWALLOW  IN  FLIGHT

This is a swallows nest inside an abandoned house.  The nest is made from mud and grass and twigs, see the little gap between the nest and ceiling.  This is the entrance to the nest.


Next Housemartins.
The house martin is a small bird with glossy blue-black upper parts and pure white under parts. It has a distinctive white rump with a forked tail. It spends much of its time on the wing collecting insect prey. The bird's mud nest is usually sites below the eaves of buildings, commonly at the apex of the roof. Look at the fronts of many of the houses in St. Catherine's estate and you will see the little mud nest.  There is one at the front of my house. They are summer migrants and spend their winters in Africa. There are lots of them flying around the estate.  You will also see them and swallows flying above the grass near the Monument.

This is the Housemartins nest at my house, you can see two birds in the nest, these parents arrived from Africa over the last week and have taken up residence.  This is what remains of last years nest, the birds over  the next couple of weeks will gather mud and reconstruct the nest and will leave only a tiny entrance hole.  The nest is similar in appearance to the swallows nest but is made entirely of mud.

Swifts.
Swifts pair for life, meeting up each spring at the same nest site. The nest is located high up in the roof space under the eaves of old houses and churches where the birds are able to drop into the air from the nest entrance. The nest is built by both adults out of any material that can be gathered on the wing, including feathers, paper, straw, hay and seeds. It is cemented together with saliva, and renovated and reused year after year.

The swift is a medium-sized aerial bird, which is a superb flier. It evens sleeps on the wing! It is plain sooty brown, but in flight against the sky it appears black. It has long, scythe-like wings and a short, forked tail. It is a summer visitor, and comes to Ireland to breed. It winters in Africa.

Swifts don't land or perch on wires or branches, they remain on the wing except when they fly into their nesting place. Their nests are very high up as they need to "drop" out of the nest to fly.  They have very underdeveloped legs which won't hold their weight and are unable to fly from a flat surface like the ground.

You will see Swifts up very high in the sky so look up!