Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Specialist

Look out now for devil’s bit scabious and marsh fritillary butterflies as pictured on the farm of Phil and Eleanor Cussen in Tipperary. Females lay hundreds of eggs on the underside of leaves. Larvae hatch and spin a web forming a protective silk sheet and feed on the leaves.

Tiny yellowish brown larvae with conspicuous black heads change into darker larvae with bristles, and then into brown larvae with a band of whitish speckles. Because they need to move to adjoining plants, females don’t lay on isolated plants. The marsh fritillary butterfly is rare, is on the red list and is dependent on devil’s bit scabious – both part of our native Irish biodiversity.

Baking homemade bread the old-fashioned way, butter churning, sheep shearing by hand and a working sheepdog demonstration are among the traditional skills to be showcased deep in the mountains of Waterford in the coming days. This is part of the long-awaited Comeragh’s Wild Festival which runs during the first two weekends of July.

The community-run festival celebrates its 10th birthday this year and showcases the culture, history, traditions and the magnetic beauty of the stunning Comeragh Mountains and surrounding hinterland.

For full details of the festival programme, go to comeraghswild.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

We write to you to thank you for covering what is happening in our community in Borrisokane recently and to express our sadness.

We are a baton twirling group. As members of the International Baton Twirling Association, we compete at championships around Ireland.

In 2019, families seeking asylum came to live in Borrisokane. Children from these families joined our group and started training in the skill of baton twirling. They all integrated so well and we have had many successes including last year’s Irish Open Championship.

These families received their residency but have since received eviction notices. Our group will be broken if these children are plucked from the community in which they have grown their roots for the last five years.

The people of Borrisokane worked hard in 2019 to make integration work. Sadly, now because people will not listen, the little town with the big heart will be broken and most likely never recover from what is happening.

Heartbroken Committee, Killeen Twirlers, Borrisokane

Faba beans are very well suited to our climate and if you look at the Eurostat reports [when they are grown] we are in the top three highest yields in Europe. Teagasc researcher Sheila Alves

Ivanna Dempsey has been announced as one of the 12 trainees of this year’s Godolphin Flying Start, which is a thoroughbred industry management and leadership programme. Agri Careers

Martina Agulló González, a transition year student from Athlone Community College in Co Westmeath is the winner of the 2024 ‘From Foal to Race’ Transition Year programme with her submission titled: ‘That long awaited race’.Martina won €1,000 for her school during a VIP behind-the-scenes trip to Roscommon Racecourse with her class.