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New Home · 01-12-2021 10:12pm

On second thought... it could be a blob of expanding foam. If it looks papery, it's wasps. If it doesn't, it's not. The iffy part is the "stalks", there's usually only one in wasps nests.

magicbastarder · 01-12-2021 10:12pm

ah, i'd just get a pint glass, and place it over it and slide some card over it so the glass is covered by the card, can easily be disposed of then.

Pawwed Rig · 01-12-2021 11:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253641#Comment_118253641

Definitely not foam. I poked it with my finger and it is like very thin greaseproof paper. Like a lantern.

I actually only discovered it tonight as we are moving out so no time to spray and leave for a couple of days.

Pawwed Rig · 01-12-2021 11:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253655#Comment_118253655

I like this advice but could something bad happen? It is in the eaves of the house so awkward enough to get in at it cleanly.

New Home · 02-12-2021 12:38am

Get the hoover, put it on full power and use it to remove the nest. Then (if it's a bagged one), spray some insecticide in it, seal the bag and throw it in the bin. If it's a non-bagged one, see if they move/wake up after they end up in the canister and take it from there. You might want to close off the hose after you've caught the nest, in case they come out when the vacuum cleaner is off.

Esel · 03-12-2021 2:52am

Wasps should all be dead by this time of year (apart from the queen - don't know where she hibernates).

Pawwed Rig · 03-12-2021 9:57am

I cut it down this morning into a jar. There was nothing alive in there so job done. Thanks all

Fakediamond · 05-12-2021 5:21pm

I saw a pied robin today. I wish I could say I got a great photo, but he was hopping around too much and I only had a phone. Good luck picking him out!

magicbastarder · 06-03-2022 3:42pm

was out on the bike earlier and came across a dead buzzard at the side of the road; i collected it later in the car and will try to get through to the NPWS in case they want to test it; it's lambing season so could have been poison, but there was also avian flu recently. or it could have been clipped by a car.

i've just had a closer look and the very tip of its upper beak is broken, so possibly an impact.

New Home · 29-03-2022 7:02pm

Heard my first swallow of the season, yesterday. NW.

Bsal · 02-05-2022 3:45pm

The first house Sparrow fledgling in the garden today and a bat flying around last evening.

Pawwed Rig · 02-05-2022 7:53pm

I just had a guy call to the door (cold call) asking me if I wanted him to top and trim my trees in the back garden. Pretty sure that is illegal this time of year No?

magicbastarder · 02-05-2022 8:12pm

In a gardening context, it's generally considered ok. Still, not the best time of year to be trimming most trees, they should be done when dormant.

Pawwed Rig · 02-05-2022 8:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007040#Comment_119007040

They are not going near them. One of the reasons we wanted a big garden was to have birds and other wildlife. These are large trees with lots of nests in them so it would be criminal to go ripping them down.

02-05-2022 8:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119007055#Comment_119007055

Good job you. Topping trees seems to be an Irish disease. Trees look awful after, forever. Far more chancers out there than decent arborists anyway.

15-05-2022 3:18pm

It's roadkill season. A spin on the M6 yesterday and saw two fox cubs (one was curled up like asleep, heartbreaking), a red squirrel, a badger and a poor little hedgehog. An abundance of roadkill, while not great is often seen as a sign of a fairly healthy population. Saw a stoat, and I think a rat last week in east Galway too.

I don't know of any tunnels/bridges/funnels for wildlife to use on this motorway, probably helps that its not terribly busy; I would be fairly sceptical of how useful such measures would be anyway, and the use of fences etc would likely cut off populations from each other.

Interesting that I never seem to see deer roadkill, even in areas like south east Galway/Tipp with large populations.

New Home · 31-05-2022 7:10pm

One of the main reasons is that most people don't even slow down, or stop afterwards. Breaks my heart every time.

Pawwed Rig · 18-06-2022 1:24pm

Can anyone identify this flower? Some kind of Poppy?

New Home · 18-06-2022 6:39pm

Giant Poppy/ Oriental Poppy, but not sure what cultivar exactly (as opposed to Wild Poppy).

If you ask here https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057970687/plant-weed-id-megathread#latest someone will almost certainly be able to identify it more precisely.

New Home · 22-06-2022 11:32pm

Question: behind my house there's a field where cows graze. It's surrounded by a hedge of ashes where lots of birds live, including a healthy bunch of corvids. If the weather is particularly bad, we also get the odd seagull visiting. I'd usually be able to distinguish among the various calls (more or less, anyway), but this evening, around half eight, there was the weirdest sound. The only thing it reminded me of was the call of an emperor penguin. I know it wasn't a penguin, I'm not for the birds THAT much, but it didn't sound like a distress call, either. Any ideas as to what it could have been?

fryup · 23-06-2022 9:40am

^^^^^^^^^^^^

this evening have your smartphone at the ready and record it, and upload onto https://vocaroo.com/ so we can all have a listen

New Home · 23-06-2022 8:59pm

I'd never heard it before, I hought it might have been a visiting bird. It's not out there tonight, either.

It sounded a lot like this, but louder and with more frequent calls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQtmpWjzToQ

fryup · 23-06-2022 10:28pm

maybe a grebe of some sort? do you live near a river?

New Home · 23-06-2022 10:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119241278#Comment_119241278

Not that I know of.... 🤔

Based on some of the calls I heard on youtube, I don't think it was a grebe - the call I heard sounded lower, deeper, but thanks for the suggestion.

fryup · 23-06-2022 10:40pm

a cormorant ?

New Home · 23-06-2022 11:08pm

'fraid not... less choppy.

fryup · 24-06-2022 10:10am

well maybe a mammal then - a badger? fox? pine marten?

magicbastarder · 01-08-2022 9:30pm

a friend of my wife's lives on griffith avenue on dublin's northside; the other night her door bell camera was triggered by a badger in their front garden. that's the second time recently i've heard of a badger in the area (though the first anecdote while heard recently, was for a sighting i think from a year or two ago)

05-08-2022 9:03pm

That's rather pleasing. I had assumed it could only be from St Anne's or Phoenix Park, but looking at Google Earth there is still a fair bit of potential sett habitat closer again.

It seems in Ireland badgers have a slightly different social structure to UK dwellers, without the very large megasetts, even in similar habitats.

And a satellite sett could be dug in a large neglected garden.

fryup · 05-08-2022 10:28pm

saw this today..is it a mayfly? surely not

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