LOOK WHO VISITED THE SCHOOL DURING THE MID TERM BREAK

One sunny day during the past week I saw a group of goldfinches (collective name is a 'Charm of goldfinches') feeding on the seeds in the cones of the Alder tree. 

There was also a hedgehog investigating the hibernation habitat.

Garden visitor

During the mid term break we had a visit from a young hedgehog in the school grounds. Hedgehogs hibernate during the winter but on sunny warm days they sometimes wake up for something to eat. The hedgehog's back is covered with spines and its face and underside are covered with coarse hair.  As protection it rolls into a ball and its spines stick out.  This will deter many preditors, like cats and dogs, but foxes and badgers will kill hedgehogs.  Foxes kill them by manoeuvring them into water where they have to unroll to swim then the fox attacks the head.  Badgers somehow find a gap in the spines and attack the unprotected belly. 

Hedgehogs feed mainly on worms, insects and their larvae, snails, slugs, and fallen fruit.  So the hedgehog is the gardeners friend. It will also eat the eggs and young of ground nesting birds.

Hedgehogs are most active at dawn and dusk when it comes out and snuffles around for food, the hedgehog is quite noisy and if you are lucky to have one in your garden you will be able to hear him.

Hedgehogs have one or two litters of between three and seven young, they are born in nests of grass or leaves from May to September.  The nest may be in a hedge, under a tree root or in a disused rabbit hole.

Horse Chestnut

Junior and Senior infants will be looking at the Horse Chestnut Tree this year.  We will be looking at the fallen leaves, bare twigs and buds.  We will be learning to recognise the various parts of the tree, roots, trunk, branch, twig and buds. We will also look at the fruit (conkers) and leaves.

Pygmy shrew

The only species of shrew found in Ireland is the pygmy shrew.

This little animal is the smallest mammal in Ireland.  It differs in appearance from a mouse by its long pointed snout. Shrews are active day and night they are noisy agressive little creatures. They don't hibernate.  Their saliva is toxic and when they bite a large insect or animal like a mouse their bite kills in minutes.  They eat earthworms, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, flies and woodlice. 

Shrews are solitary, aggressive animals, guarding their territories jealously and screaming shrilly at intruders. Shrews reproduce in spring and summer and up to five litters of seven or eight young may be born during this time. The young are fed for the first three or four weeks after that the fend for themselves.  Shrews live for only a year.

This summer when I was emptying the compost heap I found four little baby shrews.  I finished the compost and put the babies back where I found them.  I saw the mother come back and after about a half hour they were all gone.  I think the mother moved them to a safer place.

Cute or what.

Rainbow

Photo courtesy of Rush Needs You Face book page.

WHAT IS A RAINBOW AND HOW IS IT MADE.

A rainbow is the result of sunlight from behind an observer being both reflected and refracted as it passes through raindrops falling ahead.

Reflection happens at the far side of each raindrop and the light is directed back towards the observer. 

Refraction involves the separation of sunlight into its component colours.  Each colour is of a slightly different wave length of radiation.

The width of the rainbow and the predominant colour depends on the size of the raindrops. 

Large drops produce wide bows in which red predominates and small drops result in a narrow bow in which white predominates. 

The colours are arranged through the rainbow from top to bottom, RED  ORANGE  YELLOW  GREEN  BLUE  INDIGO  VIOLET.

Sometimes thre is a second rainbow outside the first and in this the order of the colours is reversed.  This happens as the sunlight is reflected twice insead of once.

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.