While walking along Greystones beach in Co Wicklow, we came across the enclosed samples of what looks like coral on pieces of dried seaweed (grey, flower-like encrustations). Are they corals or some other underwater growth? Wilma Petters, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. The encrustation is not a coral, but a bryozoan colony, Membranipora membranacea, commonly called a sea mat. It occurs on kelps and other seaweeds on the shore and in the shallow sea.
I recently - one lashing wet morning - found a fully grown and well fed looking frog in my garden. I live in Sandycove in Dublin, slightly inland, about a quarter of a mile from the sea. None of our neighbours have ponds and we have 5ft stone walls around the garden. How on earth did he get there, and if I come across him again, should I repatriate him to a river in Wicklow? Grainne Ni Uiginn, Sandycove, Co Dublin Frogs only frequent ponds at mating time. At other times they live in damp, grassy places. Your visitor may have been travelling cross country to a pond in order to spawn and went in through your gate.
Recently I saw my first squirrel in Ireland, in a deciduous wood on the southern side of the Galtees. His most noticeable characteristic was a reddish brown flank/underside with a grey back. I consulted my nature book to find out what kind he was but I'm still none the wiser, as he could be a red squirrel moulting or a grey squirrel. Higher up the heathery slope I came across a bird I've seen before in the same area in a large flock - coloured and shaped like a swift with swept back wings, brown back, lighter underside and a distinctive call. It has been suggested to me that he was a golden plover - do they change colour through the year as this one certainly had no gold on it ?
Pearse Ryan, Limerick.
The red squirrel was in his winter coat; the golden plover, too, in winter plumage. Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. e-mail: viney@anu.ie. Observations sent by e-mail should be accompanied by postal address as location is sometimes important to identification or behaviour.