Michael Viney answeres your questions about nature
I observed over 100 linnets congregating along the ESB cable on the southern flank of Howth Head. Does the large number indicate a particularly successful breeding season?
Milo Kane, Bettyglen, Dublin 5.
The linnets were gathering for migration. Most of the Irish linnets winter in the south of France, and leave from the south coast in flocks of several hundred.
I was delighted to hear grasshoppers this year. I had not heard them for 20 years and thought that they had been wiped out. They were on waste land between the road and the cliff edge at Loop Head.
David O'Connor, Castletroy, Limerick.
Cultivation and monoculture of grassland - the ubiquitous Italian ryegrass - is to blame for the disappearance of the grasshopper.
We have a family of foxes living next door for the past 15 years. During the summer one of them stood on its hind legs with front paws in one of my raspberry bushes. Was he eating berries or snails?
Tom Lee, Knocklyon Road, Dublin, 16
He was eating berries.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address.