your observations on nature
Recently I saw some yellow stuff that looked like scrambled egg on my lawn and removed it. However, more seems to be appearing.
Ruth Maybury, TCD.
It is slime mould, which is neither animal nor vegetable but has characteristics of both, being able to move in search of food by means of contractions. It lives on bacteria and fungi. The yellow stage develops into a fungus-like, spore-containing fruiting body. It is normally hidden in leaf mould or decaying matter, but warm humid weather can bring it out into the open.
On the 14th November I found wild strawberries growing on a roadside ditch near Fountainstown, Co Cork. Some were fully ripe and quite flavoursome.
Pat Darmody, Ballinlough, Cork.
I watched a sparrowhawk make several dives at something in our garden pond. He would then fly to the nearest tree or to the bank of the pond to dry and settle his feathers. We could not identify what attracted him. I had never seen one dive in this manner.
Oswald Barton, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
A sparrowhawk, like other raptors, will stoop on prey.