Large Red Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)


A few Large Red Damselflies have emerged from my pond and are tentatively exploring my garden. From a distance they don't look too impressive but up close they are very delicately marked and are surprisingly colourful.

The Skellig Islands

Gannets over Little Skellig

I added another one of Ireland’s islands to my list this week. The Skellig Islands are two precipitous sea stacks composed of old red sandstone, lying 14km off the Kerry coast. They stand out on the horizon like two massive pyramids rising out of the Atlantic ocean. These remote islands are not only physically steep, with Great Skellig rising to 218m and the Little Skellig reaching 134m, they are also steeped in mystery.

Little Skellig with Great Skellig in the distance

On the Great Skellig are the remains of a 6th Century monastic settlement. Of course 6th Century monastic remains are as common as I don’t know what around these parts, but this one is different. I think the pictures describe the scene better than words but really you have to see it to believe it. Why monks would want to live on top of such a tortuously steep remote island is mystifying. I suppose it shows the extreme devotion these men had for their beliefs.

Monastic Settlement

I had hoped to get some pictures of the puffins (1,000 breeding pairs) but as luck would have it they were either out at sea or in their burrows hatching. Hundreds of burrows but only an odd glimpse of a puffin. The puffins return in the evening but the boat trips only give you three hours on the island from 11am to 2pm. In a few weeks time, when the young are bigger, the parents return more frequently, so I might make a return visit in June. The island is also home to over 2,000 pairs of manx shearwater and possibly 10,000 storm petrels. These birds are rarely seen on the island during daylight hours. The remains of quite a few storm petrels were scattered about the enclosures. Interestingly, the petrels nest in the monastic walls and beehive huts. Kittiwake, common guillemot, razorbill and fulmar also nest in significant numbers. However, due to the awkward terrain, getting close enough to get good pictures is near impossible. Islands such as the Great Saltee are much more hospitable for the photographer. Thrift, sea campion and sea spurrey were in full bloom. I also saw quite a few rabbits – I assume the monks brought them with them for food and they have managed to survive ever since.

Thrift

Little Skellig is no less impressive – it is a massive gannet city, with an estimated 26,000 breeding pairs. You have to see (and hear) it to believe it, thousands of these huge, elegant birds wheeling around the sky. Landing on the island is almost impossible, only in flat calm conditions. The whole vista is just awesome, like something out of a David Attenborough documentary. The mystery of nature!


Thrift

Sea Campion

Little Skellig in the distance

Little Skellig

Little Skellig





Cut Stone Stairway

Beehive Huts

Aliens in my garden

Looking like an alien from outer space as it emerges from its nest burrow, this solitary bee takes in the view from its new home in my garden. I am not sure of the species or even the genus, bees are difficult animals to identify. Its a solitary mining bee in flight in May so possibly the early mining bee Andrena scotica or is it a leafcutter bee of the genus Megachile? Whatever it is, it did seem to be enjoying itself excavating its new nest.

100 Species of Garden Animals

100 species of animals that I have photographed in my garden over the past 4 years. This probably only represents 1/10 of the species living in or regularly visiting my garden!

Spring Blooms

The bees and hoverflies are busy feeding on my garden blooms these days, particularly the beautiful apple blossom. The pace of life is increasing rapidly now.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein

The Meaning of Life

Foraminifera on a matchbox

While walking along a beach ten years ago we came across hundreds of jellyfish washed up on the sand. The kids were fascinated by them and proceeded to probe and examine them. My daughter, who was four at the time, was disgusted with these slimy, dangerous looking creatures. Being a zoologist I began explaining about their intricate, delicate morphology and their complicated life cycle. My little daughter was having none of this. She looked me in the eye, turned up her nose and hit me with a totally disarming and deeply philosophical response: What’s the point of jellyfish, they don’t even have faces? This stopped my in my tracks. After a while I feebly mumbled something about flowers not having faces but still being beautiful. Needless to say she wasn’t impressed!

The statement has mulled around in my head ever since - What’s the point of jellyfish, they don’t even have faces? The second part of the question is easy enough to tackle - they don’t even have faces. In the grand scheme of life, faces are pretty (excuse the pun) much in the minority. Bacteria, viruses, plants, protozoans, sponges, worms, echinoderms and most molluscs don’t have faces, so jellyfish need not feel so out of place. A face is not required in order to succeed in this world and if success is measured in the millions of years that a particular body plan has been in existence then facelessness wins hands down.

The first part of the question is much more difficult, if not impossible to answer - What’s the point of jellyfish? Of course the question can be expanded to include not just jellyfish: insects, spiders, humans, rocks, planets, galaxies, cheese makers, manufacturers of all dairy products - everything. What is the point? Answers on a post card please.

Just to finish off with a relevant quote from the great Groucho Marx:

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.

Prehistoric Bugs in my Garden

Millipedes (Arthropoda: Myriapoda: Diplopoda) and Woodlice (Arthropoda: Crustacea: Isopoda) look like creatures from the past and in fact they are ancient life forms. The body plan of both these groups of animals evolved millions of years ago and they have changed very little since. Obviously, these designs perfectly fit the habitats that these creatures inhabit and Mother Nature has decided to leave them pretty much alone. Woodlice date from around 160 million years ago and therefore walked with dinosaurs, which became extinct 65 million years ago. The ancestry of millipedes is even more impressive. In 2004 a fossil millipede was found near Aberdeen in Scotland. The fossil has been dated to 420 million years ago and is one of the oldest fossil land animals ever found. Humans, on the other hand, have only recently evolved with the first apes dating from 25 million years ago. Will we be as successful as the millipedes? Will we, or our evolved future family members, be around in 400 million years?