Michael Viney responds to queries and observations on nature.
I came across chestnut cones in St Anne's Park, Raheny, Dublin, which each contained three seeds. They were shaped like small tulip bulbs with one side flat. This tree was smaller than the other horse chestnut trees in the park. Jack Kenny, Raheny, Dublin 5.
It was a sweet chestnut tree and the chestnuts are edible.
While on holidays in Clifden, I saw a black worm-shaped creature, about 2.5 inches long swimming like an eel in a roadside rainwater puddle. On reaching the end of the puddle it retracted to about one inch. It seemed to have a ragged dorsal ridge, and it remained in the puddle for a couple of days. Ken Hughes, Castleknock, Dublin, 15.
It was a horse leech, which is quite common. It sucks the blood of invertebrates and does not attack horses or any other mammal.
I found a frog in a bucket of water in my back yard on the patio. How did it get there? Hugh Feehan (aged 8), Birr, Co Offaly
It hasn't been raining frogs, so I expect it jumped into the bucket, perhaps from some vantage point.
Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie (include postal address)