Picture 3 - Green-Schools
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© Maja Dumat via Flickr ©Michael John O’Mahony ©Michael John O’Mahony
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Can you name these Irish Plants and Animals? Try our
interactive quiz here to learn more about them.
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1C4 Description Habitat found
Silver Birch The silver birch is a small to medium sized
deciduous tree. It has fine branches and small
Silver Birch will grow in poor soils, but
likes a sunny position, and it needs
leaves, white bark with dark ridges and good drainage. Birch woods occur
Common Name: Silver Birch cracks. There are two types of birch in Ireland, widely, especially on marginal soils, lake
Downy and Silver. The Silver Birch overall looks edges and on dried out bogs. It makes a
Irish Name: Beith gheal more ‘weepy’ like a Weeping Willow tree, and good ornamental garden tree, as it does
the leaves are more pointed than heart- not grow too large, so you may find it in
Scientific Name: Betula pendula shaped, in comparison to the Downy Birch. parks, gardens and on school grounds.
Parent plants lose With the warm weather in
Image by Gilles San Martin via Flickr.com
their leaves in Spring mature trees start to
winter. Seeds will grow leaves and flowers.
lie in the soil for Little seeds from last year’s
the Winter. trees will also start to grow
in the soil as small trees or
‘saplings’.
Life
These new seeds dry
out, and break apart As Spring progresses
and are carried on the the leaves grow and
Cycle
wind a small distance the flowers form a
from the parent tree. cluster called a Image by Maja Dumat via Flickr.com
‘catkin’.
Image by Jon Sullivan
via Flickr.com
The catkins, with all of
Fun Facts!
Pollen is blown
their tiny fertilised between catkins on In early times “toghers” or walkways, usually across bog
Flower: April – May flowers then become different trees. If any
land were made from birch. Nowadays, it is more
more like a small tower tiny flower gets pollen
Fruit: Seeds late of seeds by Autumn. from another one it is commonly used in making plywood.
Summer to Autumn fertilised and turns into
a tiny seed.
1C4
Silver Birch Tree Draw a Birch Leaf and Catkins in
Spring:
In Winter, all the In Spring leaves
Draw birds in a Silver Birch Tree: leaves fall off the and little flowers
trees. And the grow on the trees.
little seeds rest on The flowers form a
cluster called a
the soil.
‘catkin’.
Life
By Autumn seeds have Cycle
formed in the catkins,
they turn brown and
are blown off the tree In Summer Pollen is
by the wind. blown between
catkins on different
trees.
1C1
Description Habitat found
Creeping Thistle A very common plant. Unlike the other types
of thistles, the upright stems are spineless.
This wildflower grows in
grassy and waste places.
The leaves can be cottony underneath. They are visited by lots
Common Name: Creeping Thistle Flowers are lilac coloured (15-25mm across) of insects looking to
arranged in fragrant clusters. Take time to drink its sweet nectar.
Irish Name: Feochadán reatha make sure not to confuse this with Marsh During these visits the
Thistle and Slender Thistle; both have spiny insects bring pollen and
Scientific Name: Cirsium arvense stalks so you’ll know the difference! pollinate the flowers.
Plants die down to Thistle plants
start to grow in DO NOT
the ground in winter, TOUCH a
and take a rest, when early Spring-
thistle unless
there is very little they get their
you are
energy coming from energy from the
wearing rubber
the sun. Spring sunshine
gloves!!
The thistle’s
sharp needle-
New plants are
produced by the new
Life This wildflower
reaches 120cm
like leaves can
puncture your
Cycle
seeds dispersing on high during the skin!
the wind and also by summer months.
spreading roots under
the ground. Fun Facts!
The flowers are The Creeping Thistle is one of our most troublesome plants!
visited by a variety Landowners and farmers often have trouble keeping them
In autumn the fruits of insects which off their land. This is because the plant can spread just by
/seeds are held in a pollinate them; this growing more roots, which then produce shoots, which grow
Flower: June – September feathery structure and facilitates seed into new plants. Also they are too prickly for most animals to
are dispersed on the production.
Fruit: Seeds disperse in Autumn wind or breeze. eat! Clever plants!
1C1 Creeping Thistle Draw a Creeping Thistle growing in Spring:
The seeds rest In Spring the seeds
Draw the seeds blowing away on the soil start to grow, and
from the Thistle in Autumn: during Winter. turn into a little
thistle plant with
sharp pointy leaves.
Draw insects visiting the Creeping Thistle’s
Life flowers in Summer:
By Autumn the flowers
have turned into seeds.
Cycle
The seeds look like
In Summer the
tiny circles covered in
fluff. They blow away thistle grows purple
flowers at the tips.
with the wind.
Butterflies and
Bees visit these
flowers.
1C3
Blue Tit Description
A mix of blue, yellow, white and green
Habitat found
They are common
makes the blue tit one of our most in woodland,
Common Name: Blue Tit easily recognisable birds. The sexes are hedgerows, parks
similar, but females can be duller than and gardens. And
Irish Name: Meantán gorm males. The juveniles have a more are widespread
Scientific Name: Parus caeruleus yellowish face than the adults. across Ireland.
The parents help the
Image by Simon Redwood via Flickr.com
young for a few weeks.
Then they all move In February the birds
away from each other start to look for a
to live separately over good nest site and a
autumn and winter. suitable partner for
©Michael John O’Mahony
the year ahead.
The young fledge at about
Life
20 days old (in early to mid The female does most of
June). Their main the nest-building from April
predators are sparrow for 1-2 weeks using mostly
Image by NottsExMiner via Flickr.com
hawks, magpies and cats.
Cycle moss, and wool for lining.
Each chick can eat up to 100
caterpillars per day! So the
Mid-May eggs are laid; one
Fun Facts!
per day for usually 8-10 In the time when 'the milkman' delivered bottles of
adults need to work really hard days. Then the female sits
to feed them all! milk to our doorsteps, Blue Tits discovered that if
on top and starts
they pierced the top of the milk bottle, they could
incubating them.
At the end of May the get a drink of the cream which always rose to the
chicks hatch. The timing top of the milk. Clever (or cheeky!?) birds!!
of hatching coincides with
Seen in Ireland: Year-round the abundance of
caterpillars!
1C3 Blue-Tit Draw a Blue-tit:
©Michael John O’Mahony
In Autumn the chicks will
move away from their In Spring the
Draw Blue-tit chicks with their Blue-tits find a
parents, and they will spend
parents: the Winter on their own. partner and build
a nest
Draw a Blue-tit’s nest:
Life
By late Summer the chicks Cycle
have hatched and are being
fed caterpillars and other In Summer the
food by both parents, until mammy lays up to 10
they are ready to fly. eggs in the nest.
The eggs are white
with light brown
speckles.
1C6
Chaffinch Description
The plumage of the Chaffinch is unmistakable and
Habitat found
The Chaffinch is one of Ireland’s most
Common Name: Chaffinch this species is unlikely to be confused with any other
species. Male's breast, face and underside is a pinkish
common finches. It is found in parks,
gardens, woodland and farmland. In
orange-brown, and they have a blue-grey crown and winter they can form large flocks of
Irish Name: Rí Rua nape. The female is more grey, with washed out grey hundreds of birds, especially in stubble
under-parts (this is good for camouflage on the fields and under beech trees.
Scientific Name: Fringilla coelebs nest!). Both male and female display large white
patches on otherwise blackish wings.
During the autumn and
In February males
winter, Chaffinches will
start to defend their
feed on seeds on the
breeding territories.
ground. They can
Despite this early
sometimes form large
start in the year, the
flocks when doing this in
nest building does not
the countryside.
begin until April.
Parents look after the
Life
young for a few days The female builds the
after leaving the nest, nest; usually a neat cup
and may then decide to made from moss and
have a second family in grass, webs, feathers
Cycle
©Michael John O’Mahony
the summer, if it’s not and wool. It is often in a ©Michael John O’Mahony
too late. fork of a tree.
Seen in Ireland: Year round
Fun Facts!
Chicks will grow quickly In early May the
Chaffinches have been found to have
and will be ready to female will lay 2-8
take their first flight eggs, and incubate regional accents, with slight differences in
after 11-18 days. them for around the typical song depending on where in the
two weeks. country the bird lives. I wonder do the
Once hatched, the chicks
Cork Chaffinches sing a bit faster than
are fed mainly on
caterpillars and insects Chaffinches elsewhere in Ireland ☺
Image by NottsExMiner via Flickr.com
by both parents.
1C6
Chaffinch Draw your own Daddy Chaffinch:
©Michael John O’Mahony
©Michael John O’Mahony
During the Autumn and
Winter, Chaffinches will feed In Spring a
on seeds on the ground. They Chaffinch finds
feed in large flocks in the a partner and Draw a Mammy Chaffinch building the nest:
countryside. the mammy
builds a nest
Life
By late Summer the
chicks will fly out of
Cycle
In early Summer
the nest. The
the mammy lays up
parents will stay
to 8 eggs. They will
with them and help
hatch after 2
to feed them for a
weeks. The parents
few more weeks.
then feed them
insects.
1C2
Description Habitat found
Peacock Butterfly The open wings are mainly a rusty red
colour, and have dramatic eyespots in
Gardens, woodlands
and hedgerow. It
blue pink and cream. The underside of the
Common Name: Peacock Butterfly hibernates through the
wings is a very dark brown all over. The
wingspan is 62-70mm.
winter.
Irish Name: Péacóg
Scientific Name: Inachis io Peacock Butterflies will
hibernate in dry sheltered Adult butterflies
spots. Sometimes they come out of
think our houses or sheds
are just the right spot for
hibernation (a long Fun Facts!
sleep over winter) in
the winter! March and April The colourful eye-spots on
the wings resemble the marks
©Michael John O’Mahony
The new butterfly will on a peacock bird’s feathers,
spend weeks feeding in The mammy or and this is where this
Life
preparation for a long ‘female’ lays eggs butterfly gets its name.
winter without food. It on the underside
will go into hibernation of nettle leaves
Cycle
in September. in May
Eggs hatch after 7-21
After ~ 3 weeks, the days, and little larvae
little animals come out called caterpillars
Flight Period: April to June of their cocoon in the come out.
and Late July to shape of a butterfly! They grow by changing the size
of their skin or ‘moulting’ a few
September times. After their final moult
the caterpillars hang from
plant stems in a cocoon to
‘pupate’; this is when their Image by Dean Morley via Flickr.com
whole body reorganises itself.
Image by Peter von Bagh via Flickr.com1C2
Peacock Butterfly Draw a Peacock Butterfly:
©Michael John O’Mahony
In Autumn the butterflies eat
Draw a cocoon hanging from as much as they can, before In Spring the
under a Nettle leaf: finding somewhere warm and butterflies wake
dry to sleep for the whole up, and try to
Winter. find a partner.
Draw the caterpillars crawling around eating the
Life Nettle leaves:
By late Summer the
caterpillars build a
Cycle
cocoon and stay in there
In early Summer
for about 3 weeks. In
this time they turn into caterpillars come
out of the eggs that
a Butterfly!
were laid by the
mammy butterfly on
the Nettle leaves.1C5 Description Habitat found
Garden Bumblebee This bumblebee has a white tail, two
yellow bands on its thorax, one on its
abdomen, and it has a long face (its
This species of bumblebee is
common and wide spread in Ireland.
It can be found in many habitats
Common Name: Garden Bumblebee face is longer than it is broad). including gardens and grasslands.
Irish Name: Bumbóg Gáirdín
A Black Body with...
DO NOT TOUCH
Scientific Name: Bombus Hortorum Remember! All female
First yellow bumblebees have a sting.
The Queens Second yellow They are very mild
All the bumblebees stripe on Thorax
come out of stripe on Thorax mannered by nature, but if
die before Winter,
hibernation in they get a fright they will
except the New (now
early Spring, First (and only) defend themselves! Ouch!
mated) Queens, who
usually around yellow stripe
go into hibernation!
February on Abdomen If you’re finding it hard to
see a bee’s features, it is
She then searches safe to catch them with a
Males and new Queens for a good nest site
White Tail
butterfly net, and transfer
Life
are born in late summer. (usually this will be to a glass jar, with a lid,
They will breed with underground or in Long horse-like for a minute or so. But be
individuals from other long grass) and for face, with VERY sure to put the bee back in
colonies by Autumn.
Cycle
food. LONG tongue! the same place that you
found it ASAP!
The colony will grow to By mid-Spring she has
around 100 bees over collected and stored
the summer, as the nectar and pollen in her Fun Facts for Identification
Queen continues to lay nest for her young, in o There are just 20 species of Bumblebee in Ireland; only a few are common
eggs (still producing the form of a ‘nectar and widespread, and even fewer have a white tail! So start by looking for a
mostly worker bees at The first eggs to pot’ and a ‘pollen loaf’. white tail!
this stage). hatch are worker She lays eggs. o Only one other (the Heath Bumblebee) has the same pattern of yellow
bumblebees (all stripes and white tail, so you should have no trouble finding bees with this
Seen in Ireland: February to female!). Once pattern near your school! The long face and tongue will confirm whether it is a
strong enough, they Garden Bumblebee or the Heath Bumblebee.
October (and maybe some Queens will o Enjoy all the bumblebees that you bumble into on your travels! Don’t get too
take over the duties
also appear out of hibernation in winter bogged down with identification; just record the colours and patterns of
of the nest, and rear
whatever ones you meet to see if you have a few different types at school.
months, if the weather is very mild!) all the other young.1C5
Draw a Garden Bumblebee:
Garden Bumblebee
Draw bumblebees collecting nectar and pollen
from flowers: All the bumblebees
die before Winter,
except the New The Queens come out
Queens, who go of hibernation in early
into hibernation! Spring
Life
Cycle
Males and new Queens
are born in late summer. The colony will
They will breed with grow to around
individuals from other 100 bees over
colonies by Autumn. the SummerYou can also read
