Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature.
This was an excellent year for hawthorn flowers in the first couple of weeks in June. But on several trees the flowers turned red, something nobody around here ever saw before.
... Des Flanagan, Dromquin, Co Tyrone
Hawthorn flowers rarely fade to red, but they do occasionally in my hedge. It is probably caused by some environmental condition such as drought, perhaps in the previous year, as the nutrition for flowers is stored in the stem from then.
While hill-walking in Wicklow I met the caterpillars of the oak eggar moth, seven or eight in the course of the afternoon. They were on the path, in the full glare of the sun with thick heather close by on both sides.
... David Nolan, Santry, Dublin 9
They were the northern and western subspecies of the oak eggar moth, Lasiocampa quercus callunae. They feed on heather and bilberry in spring and were preparing to pupate in July.
I recently saw a magpie attack and put to flight a grey squirrel on Castle golf course, Rathfarnham.
... Terence Doyle, Dundrun, Dublin 16