Metamorphosis from Caterpillar to Butterfly

The word metamorphosis comes from the Latin words for changing shape and in this movie you will get the opportunity to see three  stages in the life cycle of the the butterfly. First the caterpillar, next the chrysalis and finally a beautiful butterfly emerges.

These are the caterpillar of the Cabbage White butterfly. They are great eating machines and have been living on the underside of the cabbage leaves in our school garden.
The larger ones look ready to pupate but you will have to read Katie's post to find out their fate.

The Peacock butterfly lays her eggs on the underside of a stinging nettle.When the caterpillars emerge they are highly conspicuous. In order to protect themselves from predators they cover themselves in a type of web.  If you look carefully at this picture you will see tiny caterpillars feeding inside a type of web. When they have eaten all the nettle inside the web they move on to another part of the nettle.

These caterpillars are much larger, are jet black in colour and their bodies are covered in tiny spikes. They moult several times as they outgrow their skins. On the right of the picture you can see the remains of their protective web.

Bull Island is about one kilometre as the crow flies from our school. I was fascinated to find that a butterfly conservationist counted 298 Marsh Fritillary butterflies there one morning last June.

Click here to see some of the beautiful pictures that he took of the Marsh Fritillary. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page so that you can see a mass of butterfly eggs on the underside of a leaf.

Brent Geese Migrate to Dublin

 From Bathurst Island to Bull Island

Brent geese are migratory geese who spend their lives moving between Dublin, Ireland and Bathurst Island in the north of Canada.They spend the summer in Bathurst Island where they breed and moult before returning to Ireland  via Greenland and Iceland every September.

At this time of year large flocks of Brent geese flying over our school are a familiar sight. They normally spend their time eating eel grass on the mud flats at Bull Island but at high tide they come inland to graze on the local greens.

Matthew a research ornithologist has spent several months monitoring the Brent geese that over winter in around Bull Island. He is particularly interested in social groupings amongst the geese. They hang around with their family members’ mothers, aunts, brothers and sisters just like you do. In his post Matthew mentioned that on the morning of on 11^th November 2012 he counted 750 Brent geese in Kilbarrack at high tide.

Click here   if you would like to read more about Matthew’s study of our local geese.
More information on the Irish Brent goose can be found on this site  Irish Brent goose