Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature.
A pair of jays have visited our nut feeders since last spring. They gorge on peanuts; one swallowed 15, while under his chin got bigger. Do they do this, and then hide the food.
Mary and Tom Keane, Callow, Co Mayo
Jays usually confine themselves to woodlands. It's interesting they have learned about feeders. They have an extra large crop for carrying nuts to caches.
In a small valley in Wicklow there is a beautiful, lone rowan tree with a huge trunk as if several trees grew from the same trunk. Do rowans self-set easily, or was it deliberately planted?
David Nolan, Santry, Dublin
The rowan may have a condition called fasciation where multiple stems, caused by early damage to the growing point, fused. The rowan could have grown from a seed excreted by a bird.
For the past couple of months a flock of more than 50 twites has been feeding on the seed heads of the vegetation along the foreshore in Sutton.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Sutton, Dublin
Send observations to Michael Viney, Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail viney@anu.ie (include a postal address)
