Readers of The Irish Times pose questions on nature.
I was watching honeybees working the flowers in my garden when I heard a high-pitched buzz and saw an insect not unlike a honeybee chasing the bees which were trying to avoid it. It made contact with one. Liam Brett, Killiney.
If it had stripes it could have been the bee-killer digger wasp (bee-wolf), a solitary wasp which belongs further south on the continent, but in recent years has undergone a rapid expansion in Britain and may have arrived here.
While exercising my dog I noticed numerous caterpillars on the ragwort plants bearing the Kilkenny stripes horizontally. Peter Geraghty, Drumconrath, Co Meath
The caterpillars were those of the beautiful pink and blue cinnabar moths.
I witnessed a huge battle in Scots pines between magpies and hooded crows. It lasted for over an hour, and both sides flew in reinforcements. The magpies seemed to have won. Is it true that they dislike each other? Michael Doyle, Monkstown, Co Dublin
Magpies and hooded crows are arch enemies. For that reason magpies nest closer to human habitation where the crows are reluctant to stay.