What’s the story, twiggy glory... stick insects in Ireland

There are more than 3,000 species of stick and leaf insects globally — and at least one has taken up residence in the south of Ireland

New Zealand stick insect Acanthoxyla inermis, also known as the 'unarmed stick insect', has been found in the wild in Cork and Kerry

If you were asked to list the creatures of Ireland’s countryside, you might rattle off the usual suspects: foxes, badgers, robins, rabbits, maybe even a few less-loved slugs.

But would a stick insect make the cut? Probably not.