Lace wing.

This is a lacewing.  These insects devour greenfly (aphids).  They start life as eggs laid at the end of long stalks.  The larvae eat aphids and after pupating hatch into a beautiful lacewing.

Hornet Moth

In our Willow tree at the car park corner (see an earlier blog about the Willow tree) we have some hornet moths.  These insects lay eggs in crevices in the bark of the tree.  The eggs hatch into creamy white caterpillars who bore their way into the bark of the tree and live there for two to three years.  They pupate and hatch in June and July.  They resemble wasps although they are moths.  This gives them protection from preditors, as birds avoid them perhaps because they have had unpleasant experiences of trying to eat wasps.

The hornet moth although it looks fierce is really quite beautiful and harmless.

The size of its antennae differentiate it from a wasp.  It is also a day flying moth.

Barley and Wheat

Here you can see the difference between an ear of barley and wheat.  The barley has seeds arranged in two rows one on each side of the stem. Each seed has an elongated tip making it very distinctive.  There are many fields of barley in and around Rush. Barley is used for brewing beer and feeding livestock.

Wheat is used for making bread, biscuits cakes and also for feeding livestock.  In the field the crop has a blue green tinge.  The stem and ear of wheat are held upright until just before harvesting when the colour changes to brown and the ear bends over. Wheat needs very fertile soil to grow well.

Meet the Thatcher

A couple of days after the Thatching post I passed the house being thatched.  Here we see the thatcher trimming the end of the roof.  He uses a petrol powered hedge cutter and gives the roof a "haircut".  You can also see the detail of the bamboo sways and the hazel hooks holding everything in place.

Thatching

A local house on the Skerries Road is being thatched.  Thatching is a traditional method of roofing. It was commonly used until slates and tiles became popular about 100 years ago.  Its advantage is that it is warm in winter and cool in summer.  It used to be a cheap method of roofing but now is very expensive due to a lack of thatchers.

To thatch, the roof is stripped to the struts and bundles of straw or reed, depending on the material to be used on the roof, are attached to the rafters.  The first line of thatch is attached at the lower end of the roof, and secured with hazel pegs and hazel rods. Further bundles are laid on top in layers right up to the ridge.  At the ridge an extra layer of thatch is put on and a pattern of hazel is attached to give extra strength.  Sometimes an extra touch, in this case a bird, is added.  The thatchers "signature" is the ridge,  no two thatchers use the same ridge design.

 Can you see the bird on the right hand side of the ridge?

The name for the hazel rods making the pattern on the ridge are "sways".

The gable end of the house. Beautiful.

The Thatcher hard at work using Hazel sways to strengthen the sides of the roof.  This should protect the edges against the prevailing westerly wind. Look closely, the man is wearing very thick knee pads.

Thatch roofs in various parts of Ireland have different details. This roof in Donegal has the typical pegs used to anchor the roof.  The countryside in Donegal is very wind blown and the roof would blow to pieces very quickly otherwise.

Thatched roof in Killybegs, Co Donegal.

Miss Archer's class in the garden

I showed Miss Archer's class how to plant seeds in the garden.  They loved all the veg.  At least, they said they did!!!

A LOVELY BUNCH !!

Planting seeds in the school garden

We planted lots of vegetables in the school garden today.All the classes have a vegetable plot.  Even the montessorii group.  In about two weeks the radish, lettuce and pac choy will be ready to eat.  Elida will have loads to cook with.

I would like to thank my photographer and helper for the day Aine.