Blackbirds and other members of the thrush family normally take flight if they see a human. However, this female has realised that I can help her find food, especially in the frozen conditions, and comes to within a metre as I dig or scrape away leaves to reveal something to eat. Even the robins are more wary than this blackbird. I wonder if her behaviour is something more commonly found in urban gardens. Robert Myerscough, Wicklow
Robins, blackbirds and thrushes are all of the same bird family and, as you say, it is usually the robin here that is friendly to us. This is not the case in European countries such as Poland, where robins never approach people or even visit gardens – they are strictly woodland birds. The female blackbird has imprinted on you, seeing you as a source of food rather than the enemy. Needs must when food is scarce.
Can you identify this bird? Since recently digging up an old patio, we’ve had lots of visitors for fresh pickings. Katrina Collins, Cork
This is a redwing, a member of the thrush family whose Irish name – deargán sneachta – says it all. This winter visitor to Ireland migrates in flocks from its breeding grounds in Iceland and northern Europe. In harsh winters, large numbers of redwings fly here to escape the freezing conditions in these places. They can usually probe the soil for insects, as you have noticed, but they will also appreciate apples cut in half and left on the ground.
I found this dead woodcock on the road today, just outside Cork County Hall. I wonder how it met its demise. Could it have just arrived after a long migration trip and simply collapsed from exhaustion? Mike Thompson, Cork city
The woodcock is a wading bird that lives in woodlands and uses it long bill to probe in the ground for earthworms and insects. Our native population is augmented in winter by woodcocks that leave the frozen ground of European forests and fly west to enjoy our warmer winters. They migrate at night; this poor craytur must have underestimated the height of the hall and crashed into it. It looks injured about the beak.
We recently found this sadly deceased little guy above the kitchen cupboards while painting. We don’t know how long he has been there, but surely he would have created a racket when he got trapped inside the house? We never heard a thing. Jason Cross, Co Cork
This is a pipistrelle bat – our smallest bat species. It has a body length of 50mm at most, as is confirmed by your helpful placing of the ruler. We have three different pipistrelle species of bats here, and their differences cannot be ascertained from a photo of a dead bat. The soprano pipistrelle emits a hunting call at 55kHz while the common pipistrelle’s is 45kHz. The teeth of Nathusius’ pipistrelle are arranged differently to the other two. This one was in a summer roost in your attic and went exploring too widely.
I took this picture of a redshank in Aylevarroo on January 8th. John Glynn, Kilrush, Co Clare
The low winter sunlight in this glorious image leaves no doubt as to why this bird got its name. Irish-breeding redshanks are joined in winter by birds from the west of Iceland and northern Britain. Waders such as these increase in numbers on our estuaries in winter, where they probe the soft, unfrozen mud for worms and other invertebrates.
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