Michael Viney responds to readers' queries and observations on nature.
Recently, we encountered a hare's nest on the golf course, and each contained three leverets. The tiny creatures had no protection from predators. I had heard that the hare is a very careless parent. I would also like to know if the magpie is a protected bird?
Patrick Canton, Howth Road, Dublin 5.
Hares and rabbits practice absentee care of their young, because neither is capable of driving off predators; they rely instead on not drawing attention to them. Hares do not have a nest; the young are born in the open and then move away a short distance to hide. Every evening mother and young meet at the birth site for a feeding session. The magpie is not a protected bird.
I was surprised to find a mass of larvae in the container of comfrey liquid I have brewing in my garden. They were massed together in a ball, and each one was 3/4 to one inch long with a segmented body, approximately six pairs of legs, and a tail almost the same length.
Christine Harte, Kilbrittain, Co Cork
They were the newly-hatched larvae of the drone fly, a hoverfly that resembles a honey bee. They extend the tail, which is a tube, to reach the surface of the liquid in order to breathe.
Edited by Michael Viney. Send observations to Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. E-mail: viney@anu.ie