Michael Viney responds to readers' queries and observations on nature.
My semi-feral cat keeps bringing me large, grey, dead mice that look like house mice. Do house mice leave dwellings and go walkabout?
F. deBurgh Whyte, Rathgar, Dublin 6
Yes, they do go out in summer, but your cat may be bringing in field mice, which are bigger than house mice and have a brown sheen on their backs.
While gardening, I heard a commotion in a large sycamore. Suddenly, a kestrel landed with a young blackbird in his claws. He flew down the garden, landed in the lane and stood on his prey, while another blackbird wheeled around uttering distress calls and a row of swallows lined the wire having a collective nervous breakdown.
Pam Hanrahan, Whitechurch, Co Cork
I think it was more likely to have been a female sparrowhawk.
We've had two unusual visitors to our garden: a hummingbird hawkmoth and a pair of hawfinches.
Barbara Smith, Schull, Co Cork
At one time hawfinches were regular winter visitors, but are now rare vagrants from Europe. The south-west is the best place to see them.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address.