Something has laid a patch of tiny, bright-green eggs on our sheltered, east-facing back wall. They're in straight rows and are smooth and oval under the magnifying glass.
Liz McGrath, Ashbourne, Co Meath
They could be spider's eggs. One of the green garden spiders lays bright green eggs.
Magpies have recently taken to tearing the petals of our red rose which is within their reach from the shed roof. Is it the colour red that sets them off?
Anthony French, Firhouse, Dublin 24
There are probably midges or small flies feeding among the petals of the flowers.
Caterpillars of the white butterfly that savages my cabbages have turned on my blackcurrants and are eating the leaves with gusto. This is the first time this has happened.
Joe McGowan, Mullaghmore, Co Sligo
Your currant bushes have been attacked by the caterpillars of the currant pug moth, which resemble those of the small white butterfly.
I collected cowslips as a boy in Booterstown, but we searched for them in vain in Connemara and the midlands a few weeks ago. We found dozens along the bank at Lisconor lock on the Shannon/Erne waterway where the owner had been farming organically for 10 years. Are they endangered?
Bearnard O'Riain, Dublin
Cowslips grow only in limestone areas and would not be found in Connemara. Yes, they are endangered because of the widespread farming practice of seeding meadows with an Italian ryegrass monoculture, which smothers all other plants.
Eye on Nature is 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 a postal address.