Category: Nature and Antiquarian Notes

“G. B. Mc Keown” (Draperstown) also sends two beetles which he says are locally known as “douel” or “dools”. He has at different times seen them killing worms, and remarks that in their actions they are somewhat like earwigs, and suggests that so close is the resemblance it is possible the story of the earwig biting originated through the belief that these beetles really were earwigs. We discussed the earwig question in this column in the early part of the year, and I think it was pretty conclusively proved that the earwig did not nip with its forceps, but that these were simply tools employed in the process of packing away its wings. It is quite possible there is something in our correspondent’s theory, for the beetles he sent are Rove Beetles. The members of this entire family, consisting of many British specimens, have the habit of turning up the abdomen when disturbed or excited, exactly as does the earwig–which, by the way, is not a beetle. From this habit they are known in many districts as “cock-tail beetles”. For the most part they are carnivorous, and prey on all kinds of larvae and on other insects, as well as upon slugs, snails, and worms. They also feed largely on carrion and to some degree on vegetable matter. The well-known “Devil’s Coach-horse” beetle is a member of the family, and is classed as one of our most beneficial insects as it clears the ground of many noxious insects. the scientific name of the beetles sent is Creophilus maxillosus L.–[E.]

Some time ago I was making my way along a trout stream in the Draperstown district, when my attention was drawn to an untidy looking patch of moss, which was growing on an adjacent bank. I proceeded to examine it, and found that beneath the surface layer there was a mass of rock-like matter that had accumulated from the mineral substances held in solution by the waters of a petrifying spring issuing at the same spot. I paid another visit to the same place a few days ago in order to further examine it, and to secure a few specimens along with a description of the occurrence, believing that it would be of interest to the readers of your ‘Nature Notes’ column. I had to cross a considerable stretch of country to reach it and on my way I noticed, in a lane, the tracks of one old and one young badger, also the track of another badger in a second lane. The nuts were brown on the hazel bushes and hanging in beautiful clusters, and the berries were red on the twining honeysuckle. On reaching the place where I had previously detected the petrifying spring, I found on examination that springs of the same nature were issuing from a good many different places, and the stone formed by them usually assumed the shape of whatever plant the matter in solution came in contact with. The moss plants were very beautifully reproduced, even to the most slender and delicate branchlet. In one case a portion of the rock on one side of the stream was worn out bu the action of a side rush of water, leaving a hole that extended into the bank for a couple of yards or thereabouts, the roof the miniature cavern thus formed being covered in a wonderful manner with stalactites, and the floor with a stalagmite sheet, in which was embedded numerous little twigs of driftwood swept in by the stream when in flood, the sides being encrusted with petrified moss. The petrified material was in some cases extremely hard, so that it was a difficult matter to secure specimens. – G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).

[Mr. Mc Keown has kindly forwarded me several examples of the petrified moss, really very fine examples, which I shall hand over to the Belfast Museum for preservation. – Ed.]

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown) sends the following note on the number of Swallows seen by him at Draperstown between September 1st and 17th:–

September 1st, 20; September 2nd, 15; September 3rd, 20; September 4th, 10; September 5th, 3; September 6th, 10; September 7th, 3; September 8th, 10; September 9th, 100; September 10th, 50; September 11th, 20; September 12th, 1; September 13th, 40; September 14th, 16; September 15th, 0; September 16th, 0; September 17th,6.

Those seen on the last-named date were flying rapidly eastwards, and no more were seen after that date.

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).–The Large Yellow Underwing (Tryphaena pronuba) is a serious pest in gardens, and should be destroyed. The eggs are laid in July on almost any kind of garden plant. The young caterpillars feed throughout the autumn and winter, and conceals itself during the day time beneath the surface of the ground or under a stone. when exposed it rolls itself up into a ring. It is full fed from March to June, when it changes into a smooth reddish-brown chrysalis, just under the top soil, in an oval cavity of its own making. The caterpillar of the Emperor Moth feeds on heather, willow, or blackthorn in August and September, and before winter spins a brown pear-shaped cocoon, similar to those sent. The cocoon is of silk, not paper.

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).– Many thanks for further maps. Why not write an account of the Druid’s Circle; it would certainly be interesting. Please send some of the flints when convenient. Your mineral analysis is not to hand yet.

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).–The so-called Sand-Hopper is the Green Grass-Hopper (Locusta sp.), quite common in Ireland. The butterflies are Small Copper (Polyommatus phloeas).

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).–The moths sent are Large Yellow Underwings (Tryphaena pronuba). The cocoons are of the Emperor Moth (Saturna carpini). When space permits I will give some particulars of each.

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).–Your Sycamore leaves have been examined by an expert botanist. His opinion is that they are of the Variegated Sycamore.  He says–“In the Variegated Sycamore there will of necessity occur branchlets in which the leaves will be difficult to distinguish from the leaves of the ordinary Sycamore. These leaves increase in frequency if the tree is growing under favourable conditions, when it will be likely to produce more chlorophyll (green colouring matter), and this the variegated characteristics will be to a certain extent lost”. Thank you for maps and further details of minerals; these have been duly forwarded.

A flock of Seagulls has visited this district constantly for a good many years past, leaving in the autumn and returning in the spring. Some time about the year 1890 a few white birds, led by a redoubtable Columbus of the air, appeared out of the mists that capped the hills north of Draperstown and penetrated the Moyola Valley as far south-west as the old church at Ballinascreen. The natives were astonished to see the pioneers of a Gull invasion, and not knowing at what kind of birds they really were they gave them the name “Geese Hawks”. The invaders found food plentiful, and for a few years they paid this district a flying visit annually. On one fateful occasion a wise old Gull after the arrival of the flock flew to Lough Patrick, whose gleaming waters had somehow caught his eye, to have a morning bath; and when so engaged his attention was drawn to the stretch of marsh covered with a rank growth if rushes, grass, and water plants, and dotted with little hillocks that lay along the western shore of the lough. The brilliant idea struck him that it would be an ideal spot for a camping ground during the nesting season, so he hurried to the valley below and reported his discovery to his feathered friends. In a short time there was much beaking and squabbling and noisy screams of “Who dare tramp on the point of my wing” around the little hillocks that dotted the Lough Patrick marsh. The colony flourished, and after a number of years had increased to such proportions that only the fiercest warriors could retain their claw-hold on their own particular hillocks, so that many of the less combative ones were forced to seek fresh swamps and hillocks. New colonies were soon established at the other little loughs in the neighbourhood – the Cow Lough, the Mill Lough an the Teal Lough. These Loughs are all on the top of the Owenreagh and Tullybrick Hills. They have also taken up the marshy bottom of a portion of cut-out peat on the top of Owenreagh; at this point alone I counted nine nests on the 22nd May and about twenty birds hovering in the air. On May 15 I counted on Lough Patrick over 120 Gulls sitting and about 100 in the air, also a few on a little island in the lough. The nests were raised about eight inches above the ground; those convenient to inspect contained three eggs each. They were composed of bits of grass, heather, and rushes. On the 18th May I was at the Mill Lough. The Gulls were hatching, and when disturbed I counted about 150 in the air. I could see a good number of birds hovering over the other two loughs, but did not visit them. I again visited Lough Patrick on May 27th and I found a flock of tame Geese on the lough and the grass in the marsh, cropped down considerably, exposing many Seagull’s nests; but the eggs were gone, probably hatched out, as the old birds were still on guard and resented fiercely any intruders. The young birds remain about the loughs until sufficiently feathered to fly down to the valley below. They appear in the vallley about the beginning of July; but I have no dates for this, and will try and ascertain same. – G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).

[These birds are, of course, Black-headed Gulls – Editor.]

 

 

 

G. B. Mc Keown (Draperstown).–Professor Cole, F.G.S, of Royal College of Science, reports:–“The rocks are almost certainly from one of the ‘felstone’ dykes of Devonian age that are common in the North of Ireland, with a fairly uniform northerly trend. The compact pinkish ground contains abundant well-shaped crystals of hornblende. It might possibly be from a junction of one of the older granitoid rocks with a hornblende schist. The exact locality would be required if I am to say anything more about it.” We will send the minerals for examination and will report in due course. If you care to give locality it would assist greatly and, I think, would hardly affect your interests.