This spider is just in time for a starring role in the Halloween horror show

I saw this humongous spider on the window frame the other day. What is it? Eleanor Shaw

Just in time for a starring role in the Halloween horror show by the look of him. It is not called Tegenaria gigantea for nothing. It is a common house spider, and this male is large and lusty and is looking for a female. When he encounters one waiting seductively in her web for him to visit, he will rush in and mate with her. It may well be the last act of his life, because, being hungry after such activities, she may gobble him up as a postcoital snack.

Cogar, an mbeadh ainm agat don ialtóg seo a tháinig isteach in ár dteach? Crú-ialtóg beag? Is it a lesser horseshoe bat? Mike Mac Domhnaill, Newcastlewest, Limerick

It is practically impossible to identify a bat with certainty when there is only a picture of it from the back end and no indication of size. It is not a lesser horseshoe, as they are physically unable to crawl so couldn’t be photographed in this position. This one seems to have small, rounded ears, and the back end at the bottom of the image is covered in shaggy fur. Leisler’s bats have small ears, shaggy fur and a body length of up to 64mm. Pipistrelle bats have small ears and furry bottoms, too, but their body length never exceeds 52mm. While bats feature largely in the Halloween scenario, the inconvenient truth is that they are all in hibernation now for the winter since the recent temperature drop and are nowhere to be seen.

I spotted this frog on our driveway in Dundrum, Dublin – we are not near a pond or water source. Is this common? William O’Dwyer

This is the native common frog, Rana temporaria. This individual has a lot of melanin and a particularly large amount of dorsal colouration. Rob Gandola of the Herpetological Society of Ireland says this is perfectly normal. Most frogs are moving around looking for good places to hibernate at this time of year. Females hibernate in piles of leaf litter, compost heaps, under piles of logs and so on. Urban gardens are popular hibernation sites as they tend to have fewer frog predators than natural sites ... except for cats.

Is this jelly ear fungus? It’s growing on a young ash tree that’s suffered ash dieback but has new growth. Is the fungus edible? – not that I’d fancy it. Dorothy Hatton, Co Wexford

This is a nature column, not a culinary one. While all fungi could be eaten – some only once – you are wise not to chance it. Yes, this is Auricularia auricula-judae, jelly ear or wood ear. The ear-like fruit bodies, up to 9cm across, are tough and gelatinous when young but hard and brittle when dry and old. Larger specimens may have vein-like wrinkles on their surface, making them even more ear-like. The fungus grows on decaying wood of deciduous trees and shrubs but is most commonly found on Sambucus, elder. Interesting that you report it on ash. It is widespread and common.

Our grandad rescued this lad from a road in Bundoran. It didn’t seem to be too well. Do you know what its name is? Nina and Anika Adler-Murphy from London

It does look a bit shook, all right. It is a shrew. We have now got two species in Ireland. The native pygmy shrew has been joined by the white-toothed shrew – an invasive species that arrived here possibly in the root ball of an imported tree around 2004 and was first recorded in Tipperary and Limerick. It hasn’t got to Donegal yet, so your picture is of the pygmy shrew.

Please submit your nature query or observation, ideally with a photo and location, via irishtimes.com/eyeonnature or by email to weekend@irishtimes.com

Please submit your nature query or observation, ideally with a photo and location, using the form below or by email to weekend@irishtimes.com