Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature
I recently saw what seemed to be a purely white pheasant. It was perched on a field fence with normal coloured cock and several hen pheasants. Are there such things as albino pheasants or was I seeing something else? Denis Boyle, Ashbourne, Co Meath
I haven't found any reports of an albino pheasant in Ireland but there is a stuffed one in the Natural History Museum in London.
In December we had a mini-plague of blowflies or bluebottles inside the window of my study. I'm aware that they can breed all year round given availability of carrion, but their persistence even after they had all been removed is puzzling. J Corcoran, Co Kilkenny
Could a rodent have died in the roof space or close to the window?
I was walking at the Booterstown end of Blackrock Park when I saw a small white heron. Could it have been a little egret? Conor McCarthy, Dublin, 4
It was a little egret, steadily expanding in Ireland. One was seen in the Booterstown Marsh from the Dart recently.