Heritage & Habitat | The Irish Times

A dearg-a-daol. Drawing by Michael Viney

How the dearg-a-daol became Ireland’s most feared beetle

The beetle’s reputation comes from both folklore and its threatening posture

‘With Lorenzo at full tilt or not, its kind seems sure to proliferate as a warming Atlantic draws hurricanes north.’ Picture: Michael Viney

Autumn gives Connacht a thrilling beauty making regular storms endurable

Before double glazing we watched gusts bowing the windows - now we get out candles and Scrabble and enjoy what’s left of the wine

Clare Island cliffs. Illustration: Michael Viney

Spot the difference: how Clare Island has changed in 100 years

Clare Island’s increasingly rainy climate offers special rewards to scientific fieldwork

Viney drawing for September 28 - wasp on windfall apple. Illustration: Michael Viney

‘They ruin picnics’: Our feelings about wasps will need reform

We may not like then as much as bees, but without wasps, we could be ‘overrun with spiders’

According to the department’s estimate, the A2 rating will add 1.9 per cent to the overall cost compared to A3. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

Q&A: Will new energy efficiency regulations end up costing me more?

From November, new houses will have to comply to a near-zero energy efficiency

Rare moss at the Allihies mine in west Cork. Illustration: Michael Viney

Ireland’s habitat survey lays the groundwork for better conservation

Digging below the surface of our 58 habitats, it’s clear some are thriving better than others

Cep or penny bun, Boletus edulis. Illustration: Michael Viney

When mushroom picking, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing

There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters but no old, bold ones

Swan lake – where the gossamer gleamed.

How ballooning spiders fly through the sky

Certain species can use gossamer threads and planet’s electrical field to take flight

Scoter sea ducks. Illustration: Michael Viney

Decline in numbers of wintering waterbirds continues apace

Latest survey of almost 700 key wetlands offers fascinating insights into the changing world of migrant wildfowl and shorebirds

A honeybee at hollyhock. Photograph: Michael Viney

Beehives in Dublin city will need expert management

A swarm of bees is remarkably docile – it’s focused on the queen and not rushing to sting anyone

The elephant hawkmoth caterpillar. When alarmed, it pulls in the snout and puffs up its eye-spots to look as much like an angry snake as a caterpillar can. Illustration: Michael Viney

Fuschia bushes a promising habitat for the elephant hawkmoth caterpillar

Moths and butterflies often highly selective in the plants that feed their caterpillar

The behaviour of raccoons is not that different from that of Ireland’s native pine martens. Illustration: Michael Viney

The raccoons of Macroom: Look out for these escapees of the pet trade

In Ireland, raccoons join a long list of introduced and invasive mammals

Last month, a study was published in the journal Science assessing the potential of aiming for a trillion trees on the planet

Could mass planting of trees provide a climate change solution?

Forestation a major option for storing carbon but greater coverage could have adverse impacts

Herring: Illustration: Michael Viney

The unsung fate of the ocean’s Atlantic herring

Fishery proving uniquely destructive to the fish’s spawning grounds in the shelving Atlantic bays of Ireland

In reconstructing the loss of the planet’s historic ice, the projections of future impacts on coasts and sea levels is becoming a lot more certain. Illustration: Michael Viney

As the ice melts, what will become of our planet?

Conference in Dublin to explore how Quaternary research helps model Earth’s future

Ireland’s native natterjack toad. Illustration: Michael Viney

Irish sightings of the common toad pose ecological risks

The common toad – Bufo bufo – may spell competition for Ireland’s native natterjack

‘Roseraie de l’ Hay solicits me with perfume’. Illustration: Michael Viney

‘Rewilding’ sounds so much better than merely ‘letting things go’

The sad rationing of my energies means the garden has been largely left to its own devices

The red-billed, exuberantly yelping chough. Happily our choughs compare well with the bird’s severe decline in western Europe. Illustration: Michael Viney

Michael Viney: New insect casualties arise from cattle doses untested in the field

Livestock parasites are showing increasing resistance to drugs, notably in Ireland’s sheep

Mammals such as foxes and pine martens make an autumn feast of all the blackberries they can reach.

What the bramble lacks in hectarage, it makes up for in variety

Intriguing ecological answer emerges for the origin and manuring of new and dense thickets

Stoat on dry stone wall. Illustration: Michael Viney

Home to lizards and lichens: the distinctive ecosystem of dry stone walls

As the climate changes the 400,000km of stone walls in the Irish countryside need care

Ruminant animals such as cattle burp some 40 per cent of greenhouse gases. Illustration: Michael Viney

Michael Viney: Live by the sward

Researchers have turned to the promise of multi-species grassland

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