Lismore’s Andrew Malcolm was amongst the finalists in the recent RTÉ Eye on Nature competition.
The local photographer made it to the finals of the 2023 competition with his image ‘Sabre Wasp’ which is to feature in an online gallery along with the other nine finalists, available on the RTÉ’s Eye on Nature website. The images are on display at the National Botanic Gardens and the exhibition is scheduled to travel to other Office of Public Works sites later this year.
In 2021, he lost several trees in his garden to a big storm and in August 2022, among the remains of said trees which had since been cut down for firewood, he found an incredible-looking insect, a Sabre Wasp (rhyssa persusaoria). On his first sighting of the large insect, Andrew only had his phone to hand so he snapped what photos he could in order to research the insect a further.
“A few days later I was in the garden when I got a shout from Ann out in the field, ‘The beast is back!’ I rushed out, camera in hand this time, hoping to get some better shots of this incredible-looking creature. Cautiously, I took some photos from a distance, then as I realised how preoccupied it was in searching for its host under the bark I approached closer and closer.
Full story in this week’s Print & Digital Edition
