Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries

I came on a pair of choughs in combat – "handbag" stuff. The rest of the flock seemed not hugely interested.
Kevin Kenneally
Allihies, Co Cork

From looking at your photograph, it was probably a young bird (two or three years old) claiming status within the flock, which is strictly hierarchical, and getting whacked for his presumption.

I have a family of a vixen and four fox cubs living under the shed in my small suburban garden. Should I be worried?
Jim Wright
Rathfarnham, Dublin

Leave them alone. They will probably leave when the cubs disperse. Meanwhile enjoy their antics when they come out.

We saw a black beetle on a doorstep in Banagher. It was 3cm long and 2cm wide, with a ridged back, clubbed antenna and hairy legs, and it was blue underneath. We moved it to the garden, and it started to shed eggs and became luminescent.
Liam Kane
Blanchardstown, Dublin

It was a dor beetle; it might have picked up luminescence from bacteria in the soil.

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