Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature.
My neighbour saw a hare on the gravel in the security light suckling her three young leverets. Later she saw the leverets playing with their mother on the lawn.
Phyllis McGlenn, Naas, Co Kildare
While baby hares hide separately during the day, they meet up with the mother to nurse at the birthplace at dusk.
On August 20th at the causeway of Inchiquin Island on the Corrib I noticed huge numbers of sand martins flying about and perched on wires - four lines packed quite densely for about 150-200m. They were not easy to count, but there were possibly as many as 1,500-1,700. This area has had significant numbers of sand martins all summer and there are low gravel banks on the far side of Inchiquin Island.
Neil Sharkey, Headford, Co Galway
The islands of Lough Corrib and Lough Mask and the Tuam area generally have a high number of sand martin nesting colonies. The Atlas of Breeding Birds gives an upper limit of 150,000 nests for Ireland. Sand martins gather in flocks before leaving for Africa, and a successful breeding season could have produced this remarkable number.