Eye on Nature

Your notes and queries

On March 10th I saw a hen blackcap feeding on a coconut I set in a flower basket.
Brian Devine
Newbridge, Co Kildare

The hen blackcaps arrive here later than the cocks.

Last year a lone jay visited my garden. This year there were four jays sitting in a tree outside my kitchen window.
Anne Flynn
Rochestown Road, Cork

There was a big influx of barrel jellyfish along the coast from Kilcoole to Wicklow recently, and there were dead jellyfish every 20m. I thought this was a late-summer event.
Paddy Demery
Wicklow

The population of jellyfish in the Irish Sea has increased greatly due to overfishing of the species that prey on their larvae.

A single great spotted woodpecker recently was heard drumming in Malone Golf Club, two miles from last year's hearing of two in Belvoir Forest.
Simon Doran
Belfast

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

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Michael Viney

Michael Viney

The late Michael Viney was an Times contributor, broadcaster, film-maker and natural-history author