. I was fishing oft a bridge on the Slaney about three miles above Baltinglass in the last week in May, when I disturbed a salmon which showed that odd hungry manner salmon display. It was as black as your hat and I reckon about 12 to 15lbs in weight. I have fished this spot for 20 years and have only seen small brown trout. The obstacles a fish that size had to negotiate in mere inches of water made me think it must have had some helicopter assistance!
Patrick Palmer, Beaumont, Dublin 9.
The salmon must have come up in a flood to spawn and got stranded.
. While visiting home in mid May I came across a most unusual nesting place for a tit I've ever seen. It's at the base of a hollow, upright, steel post, the diameter of which is only 75 mm and the depth 1,240 mm. There are two things I'd like to know (1) Does the bird know there will be a good summer, because surely there is a risk of drowning if it rains? (2) Will the fledglings be able to reach the top of the post when they hatch? Ray McGinty,
Beaumont, Dublin 9.
Good questions! Is it likely that the nest was built wedged near the top of the post slipped and was abandoned because how could the parent bird take off vertically from a nest one and a quarter metres down such a narrow opening?
