Observations on nature
Our dog, Jack, has opened up a B&B. He sleeps in a garden shed which is closed at night. Since May, two swallows come every night before it is closed and stay until it is opened in the morning. We've been getting up at the crack of dawn to let them out.
Nicola Clifford, Ballyduff, Co Kerry
I'll bet they have a nest in the shed.
For weeks I had been watching the progress of house martins at Salthill Apartments in Monkstown. They had built their nests just above the window frames under the eaves. I realise that this posed a certain amount of inconvenience for the residents, but it would only be for a few weeks.
Imagine my dismay to find that the nests had been knocked down, and the distressed adults were still flying back and forth.
Eileen Cameron, Monkstown, Co Dublin
A Galway reader sent in a photograph of a pair of swans with 11 cygnets on a stream near the Cathedral. This is very unusual as swans have clutches of rarely more than six or seven. Maybe they were babysitting.