In late October, I spotted a turtle among the seaweed on Murvagh beach in southwest Donegal. It was about the diameter of a large side plate, dark-brown with tan-coloured markings. It was barely alive and I lifted it back into the sea.
Carole Pollard, Rathgar, Dublin, 6
It was probably a juvenile loggerhead turtle which was dying of hypothermia. It cannot survive in temperatures below 15 degrees, and the sea off Donegal would have been several degrees cooler.
I seem to have an active hive of bees or wasps in the soffits of our house. I can see individuals coming and going every few seconds through a crack in the woodwork. Can I count on them dying off seasonally?
Victor Murphy, Celbridge, Co Kildare
If the insects are wasps, they should have died off by now. If they are bees they will remain there and re-emerge in spring.
I have a strange fungus growing in a bed beneath a Viburnum petiolaris. It looks like an oak apple sitting in a cup which has five petals about 4 or 5 inches across. I hope this is not a fungus that will damage the shrub.
Wendy Clinch, Dundrum, Dublin
It is one of the earthstars (Geastrum spp), and will not damage the shrub.
• Michael Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo; e-mail: viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address.