We were so thrilled to see this bullfinch when leaving school today. It quickly flew up to a higher branch as we approached so zoom in to see it. This is the first sighting of a Bullfinch at St. Mary’s so we are delighted and will keep an eye out for it over the coming days and weeks.
Irish name for Bullfinch: Corcrán Coille - little scarlet of the woods!
At lunchtime, the children from first class spotted this moth on the bark of the birch tree in Mount Eden. We sent the picture to mothsireland.com and they have confirmed that this is a Lime Hawk-Moth. It is a fairly recent colonist in Ireland. The first sighting was in 2010 in Drumcondra and there has been only about 80 records since then. We have registered our sighting today with Biodiversity Ireland to make that number 81! The Lime Hawk-moths are not native but are of no concern and do not affect any native species.The caterpillars feed on Lime trees and also on Birches and Alder.
Keep an eye out for them in Autumn. They are quite impressive looking.
More about the beautiful bullfinch here: https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/bullfinch/
