Several weeks ago I found a dead goldcrest in the corner of my pond where they often drink. Last night I was sitting by the pond as one was coming down to drink when, suddenly, a frog jumped about a foot into the air, obviously trying to catch the little bird. He failed, and for a further four times in the next 10 minutes the goldcrest returned and the frog failed to catch it. He did not succeed, as he must have done several weeks ago.
Roy Stairs, Lucan, Co Dublin
What a joy to be on Tory Island during the third week of May with the plaintive squeals of circling lapwings and the thrumming of their ridiculous wings, and the crex-crex of the corncrakes. I had never heard one before, and I heard eight separate birds within a mile! And the crowning moment, when one of these small, elegantly-shaped creatures bobbed and dipped out of a bunch of nettles almost beside me and sidled unhurriedly away.
Michael G. Fewer, Dublin 16