Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries

As we were running on the beach an otter ran across our path and dashed into the sea as three gulls swooped overhead, following it. Was it a sea otter?
Ellen Turvey (aged 11),
Ballymacoda, Co Cork

There are no sea otters in Ireland. Our coastal otters fish in the sea where there is adjacent fresh water in which they can wash the salt out of their fur.

At the end of April we had our annual visitation of strange hovering black insects. They were about 15mm long, with a projecting proboscis. I photographed a pair on the window. What are they, and what is their life cycle?
Paddy Mulhern
Kinsale, Co Cork

They were St Mark's flies, which have long, dangling legs. They emerge from the larval stage around St Mark's Day (April 25th) to mate; the females lay their eggs in the soil. St Mark's flies live for about a week; they spend most of their lives in the soil as larvae.

I watched two lovely robins perched on the wall outside my kitchen window. They walked towards each other, touched beaks and then flew away.
Eileen Kinsella
Kells, Co Meath

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