Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature.
I watched a patchwork leaf-cutter bee (Megachile centuncularis), which had tunnelled in an old door, fly from the tunnel at least 30 times and quickly reappear with a portion of leaf held between her hind legs. I know that, once inside, she would form a cylinder of the leaf, lay an egg in it and seal it up. Later she reappeared at the entrance, shovelling a small pile of wood pulp with her back legs, for all the world like a badger cleaning out its sett. Is she setting up another colony? David Nolan, Santry, Dublin 9
She was extending the tunnel.
I saw some red-rumped swallows in Charlesfort, Kinsale, in June. How common are these birds in Ireland? Dermod O'Grady, Ballincollig, Cork
They are rare spring and autumn visitors, but one or two are seen most years, mainly in the south.
I found a long, narrow, pale insect, with pointed tail and gauzy wings, that had speared a snail on a cabbage. Vera Hughes, Moate, Co Westmeath
It sounds like one of the larger ichneumon flies, which lay eggs in caterpillars such as the cabbage moth. You saw her in action.
• Send observations to Michael Viney, Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie (include a postal address)
