Jessica Hamilton’s Post

Can't believe it's been nearly a whole month since we had our Annual Summer Meeting in Killarney National Park and the surrounds!! . Check out the BSBI blog (linked above) to read my recap of it all. You really can't beat a good field meeting and we had the golden combo of botany nature, great company, cooperative weather, and of course, Killarney I even got some cheeky entomologizing in as well! https://lnkd.in/eZYi4v-4 #BSBISummerMeeting Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)

Just over a year ago today my neighbour gave me a moth to ID as they didn’t know what species it was. Turns out it was a female Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). In the time, it took to get the specimen to me, she laid eggs and died. Adult Emperors don’t feed as adults, so once they have bred/laid eggs, that’s essentially their lifecycle finished. . Therefore, I decided to raise the caterpillars through to adults. What a privilege and rewarding experience it has been, all ~40 caterpillars that originally hatched out survived to the cocoon stage and were released in May 2023. . They readily fed on Salix/Willow and weren't fussy on what species of Willow they were given. They have voracious appetites, especially in the later instars where I was gathering Willow up to twice a day. One thing that was particularly fascinating to document and see was the variation in size/colouration and seeing the moment they moult from their previous skin into the next instar (see photo 6.) . Clockwise: Eggs (May'22) > cocoons (June'22) Centre: Adults which emerged & were released in May'23.. #Lepidoptera #IrishMoths #IrishWildlife #Biodiversity

January is probably one of my favourite months of the year and it's always great to welcome the New Year immersed in nature recording plants in good company. We had a mix of weather including crystal calm conditions in Killarney and driving wind and rain at Ballyseedy Woods. You could feel spring loading all around us, edging us closer and closer to seeing all our favourite plants and insects once again!🌼🌱 🐞 . The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) #NewYearPlantHunt ran this year from the Dec 31st 2021 to 3rd January 2023. This is my pups and I 7th year taking part in the annual event. 🐶 The aim of the game was to record plants (flowers, grasses, sedges etc) that were in flower over a 3 hour period. Garden escapes and naturalized species allowed but obviously planted species are discounted. . The #BSBIKerry group ran three hunts this year and here are some of the highlights. For the most part lower numbers seem to be recorded across the board, but it will be interesting to see what the analysis of this year's hunt concludes! . 🌼Sunday 1st January 2023 Muckross, Killarney National Park. Nine plant hunters, 21 species recorded in flower: Arbutus unedo, Bellis perennis, Cardamine flexuosa, Cardamine hirsuta, Cymbalaria muralis, Erica cinerea, Euphorbia peplus  Ficaria verna, Lamium purpureum, Petasites pyrenaicus, Poa annua, Ranunculus repens, Potentilla sterilis, Senecio vulgaris, Taraxacum agg, Ulex europaeus, Veronica chamaedrys, Veronica persica, Veronica serpyllifolia, Viburnum tinus and Vinca major. 🌼 Tuesday 3rd January (morning) Ballyheigue. Two plant hunters, two #BotanyPups, 1 whale vertebra and 21 species record in flower: Bellis perennis, Brassica rapa, Calendula officinalis, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Cardamine flexuosa, Cerastium fontanum Cerastium glomeratum, Euphorbia peplus, Erophila verna agg, Ficaria verna, Fumaria officinalis, Matricaria discoidea, Petasites pyrenaicus, Poa annua, Primula vulgaris, Ranunculus repens, Senecio vulgaris, Taraxacum agg, Ulex europaeus, Veronica persica and Vinca major 🌼Tuesday 3rd January (afternoon) Ballyseedy Woods, Tralee. Four plant hunters, 5 species recorded in flower: Bellis perennis, Petasites pyrenaicus, Poa annua ,Taraxacum agg and Ulex europaeus

The summer of 2021 was spent gallivanting around the woods of Killarney National Park, a place I hold very close to my heart. We were collecting plot data that feeds into a long-term study that looks at the (worrying) vegetation changes that are happening across the various woodlands in KNP. Big thanks to Conor and Katharine for their assistance in the field. The results are now published this week as IWM. https://lnkd.in/eGZdF7ar #data #woodlandecology #KillarneyNationalPark

New Chapter: Ecologist with Botanical, Environmental & Conservation (BEC) Consultants!🌼🌻☘️🐞🕷

Oil Beetles, a species I look forward to seeing each spring as it’s one of the first inverts I tick off for the season. I don’t normally see my first Oil beetle until around the 26th of February each year, however, some spring sunshine and blue skies tempted me on Monday, and sure enough they were out and about! I counted around 10 in total in what was a fleeting visit, both males and females. . They have a fascinating lifecycle that depends on solitary bees which they they are a nest parasite of. These particular specimens are Meloe proscarabaeus and the main ID features which separate them from Meloe violaceus is the margin of the thorax is straight with no tooth or depressed area at the base of the thorax. From what I have observed thus far, both Ballyheigue (coastal) populations of this species are found in south-facing situations; old stone walls or cliff bases, in areas that have little land improvement. . Females (top two photos) and males look quite similar although males have distinctive kinked antennae (bottom two photos) . In Ireland there have been three species of Oil Beetle recorded; the two species you are more likely to come across are M. proscarabaeus (Black Oil Beetle) and M. violaceus (Violet Oil Beetle). The larvae of M. brevicollis have been recorded in Wexford, so perhaps they are elsewhere as well. . Buglife UK has a great series of PDFs that detail their lifecycle and how to separate the various species: https://lnkd.in/gh8XRFmt... #Entomology #IrishInsects #OilBeetles

🌼🌿Taraxacum agg (Dandelion) and Tussilago farfara (Colt's-foot); two very common, early-flowering yellow asters which could be confused at first glance. Both species are starting to come into flower now. Here are some simple ways to determine which of the two species you have. #botany #plantID #Irishwildflowers #Irishbotany 🌿🌼

Corylus avellana (Hazel) Although the weather today might not feel like it, spring is on the way! One tree to look out for now is Hazel, a native tree species which can be seen flowering now. Hazel is a very common tree in the Irish landscape. . Hazel is monoecious, so the same tree holds both male and female flowers, which appear before the leaves. The male flowers (catkins) are pendulous and appear in clusters, which at this time of year can make Hazel an easy tree to spot along roadsides, as most broadleaf trees are still bare. . The female flowers on the other hand can be harder to spot but are well worth searching for. These are tiny and comprised of several pink styles which project outwards. (They remind me a little of sea anemones. A hand lens can be useful for getting a really good close up. . ID Features when not in flower: *Hazel is a multi-stemmed tree and although often coppiced it can reach heights of up to 10/12m. *The leaves which appear from ~March onwards, are round/heart-shaped and downy, with double-toothed edges. *In autumn it produces hazelnuts. *Winter buds are round, hairy and green ish in colour.

Two species that I often see confused with each other; Petasites pyrenaicus (Winter Heliotrope), and Petasites hybridus (Butterbur). So, I’ve put together a table that highlights the difference between these two species for the coming weeks and season ahead. Hopefully these tips and pointers will be useful in determining which of the two species you have in front of you. Many times in the last few years I have seen Butterbur (a native species) sprayed and treated as Winter Heliotrope, which is frustrating to see. At the moment (January); Winter Heliotrope is the only species you are going to encounter in flower,. Of course plants don’t read the books, so there are exceptions to every rule, but habitat, ecology and time of year are important. I hope to keep adding a few of these identification cribs for commonly confused species as time goes on; Stay tuned! #PlantID #Irishbotany 🌿🌳 🌿🌱🍀

Quite a few ladybird-themed posts of late, 2021 has been a great year for me for this group, ticking off quite a few new species. Most were casual observations, often accidental, but a few were from sweeping and then species such as Striped and 18-spot were more targeted. Of all the 'typical' ladybird species I have just three left to see and photograph. All were photographed in Co. Kerry bar 13-spot, Pine (Co. Offaly), and Harlequin (Cork)🐞🐞  #entomology #Coccinellidae #Irishladybirds