On logs in the garden I found what looked like bundles of twigs about two inches long. They were soft but tough, and empty like cocoons.
Fergus Hamill
Castleknock, Dublin
The casings are those of the case- bearing moth, Psyche casta – also called a bagworm – made of plant fragments bound with silk.
The female is wingless and remains in the casing, where the larvae also pupate before the small, male, winged moths emerge. The larvae can move the casings around.
Recently I observed a city pigeon feeding an almost fledged chick in the rafters of Grand Canal Dock Dart station.
David Kelly
Sandycove, Co Dublin
Urban pigeons breed all year round.
Our local nesting starlings come to our bird feeders, and one of them gives a most accurate imitation of the common short fox call.
Gerard Neville
Ballybeg, Co Tipperary
Starlings are great mimics. They can copy other birds, sirens
and almost any sounds they hear in their neighbourhood.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address
