Eye on Nature

I recently came across a dormouse drowned in a water container. This is the second sighting in less than a year, so it is safe to assume that there is a stable population in this area, imported with straw for local stud farms.
Brian O'Reilly, Naas, Co Kildare

Recently I put a plastic container of grain rat poison in a wooden box previously penetrated by rats. It quickly disappeared and was replenished three days later. The following day the container had been filled with three-quarters of an inch of gravel. I emptied the gravel and returned the untouched grain. The next morning the gravel had been replaced.
JS Glendinning, Kinsale, Co Cork
Rats cache portable bait, but grain would be difficult to transport. You must have clever and very busy rodents.

I found a triggerfish washed up on Claremont Strand, in Howth. I know that they are regular summer visitors to the west and southwest coasts during the warmer summers, having seen them in north Clare in 1995, but not on the east coast.
Jonathan Butler, Sutton, Dublin 13

Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address