I saw this squid or octopus on Cahore beach in Wexford. Is this species unusual on an Irish beach? – Valerie Duffy, Ballygarret, Co Wexford
You saw a lesser (also called curled) octopus ,which are found all around the coast and have been reported from southwest Kerry.
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Could you identify this small, red crab, about the size of a female hand, discovered alive in a rock pool on Béal Bán, Ballyferriter, Co Kerry? – Maol Iosa Gough, Blackrock, Co Dublin
It's the great spider crab, which is not the largest of the spiny crabs. It is found all around the coast.
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Could you identify this bird for me? He recently arrived in my garden and is very territorial, chasing away the great tits and blue tits. – Neil Vaughan, Foxrock, Dublin
It's a blackcap, very aggressive when they claim a territory.
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This recent visitor to the garden was feeding on the frozen ground. I think it may be a jack snipe but I'm not sure. – Conor Johnson, Abbeyside, Waterford
It's a snipe, which has a much longer beak than a jack snipe. It should be feeding in marshy ground but the frost may have sent it into the garden.
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We spotted this yellow stuff high up an a tree branch along the Liffey. Is it a mushroom, and is it poisonous or edible? – Lorna Walsh, Lucan, Co Dublin
Yellow brain fungus grows on dead wood. It is eaten in some parts of the world but the taste is regarded as bland.
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I found several of these beetles around our cottage near Maumtrasna; what are they? – George Nohilly, Greystones, Co Wicklow
It's a rove beetle, Staphylinus caesareus, the same family as the devil's coach horse or dearg-a-daol.
Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28 F978, or by email at viney@anu.ie
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