I have just watched 10 blackbirds (both sexes) come from the same direction to feed on the berries on a rowan tree in the back garden. Having fed briefly, they each flew off in different directions. This is flocking behaviour I usually associate with starlings, not blackbirds. Were they a family group? - Des Lee, Castleconnell, Co Limerick
They were probably two or three local families exploiting a food source. European blackbirds occasionally flock in winter and move from one country or area to another in search of food.
WHILE waiting for a wedding in a church I had time to observe a fly in a sunbeam, the common house fly I think. It appeared to be performing a regular but complicated flight pattern. It flew clockwise in a circle, however this was not done at a regular speed, but accelerating and then slowing. It would then drop down to a lower level and proceed as before then returning to the original height. Also, when walking on forest tracks flies will pursue you for miles on account of salt in your perspiration. Are they the same flies, are they territorial or do they just move as occasions dictate? - Joe Parker, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
It is difficult to get inside the mind of a fly but I would suggest that the flight pattern of yours was related to minute and imperceptible currents and eddies in the air. Flight consumes a lot of energy and I expect flies use these air movements in the same way as birds. Flies are not territorial and when they find a source of sustenance they stick with it.
IS there any solution for an unkindness of magpies? We have many sycamore trees nearby and the magpies patrol our garden in numbers and so no small birds come. - Mary Murnaghan, Dublin 10.
I'd suggest that you get a cat except it would kill more birds than the magpies. In a built-up area, only a community effort can tackle a large magpie population by trapping.
Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. e-mail: viney@anu.ie. Observations sent by e-mail should be accompanied by postal address as location is sometimes important to identification or behaviour.