I was in my garden with my camera when three crows started to attack a buzzard. Is the mobbing behaviour territorial, or are there other reasons for this behaviour? Shane Oakley, Co TipperaryBirds of prey are often mobbed by a group of smaller birds who hope to harry them out of their territory by this communal activity. The hooded crows carrying out this attack may have young in the area and the buzzard is seen by them as a threat.A juvenile grey partridge spotted in Dundalk. Photograph: Gerry Kerley I saw this unusual little bird (about 20cm tall) wandering around our estate in Dundalk on July 20th. It didn’t make a sound or fly while I observed, so I’m not sure if it’s a corncrake or a quail or something entirely different. Any help identifying it would be appreciated. Gerry Kerley (and my daughter Ellis, aged 11)The bird is definitely neither a corncrake nor a quail, though the similarity to both is clear. The shape and plumage patterns aren’t right for either species. Both are also so notoriously shy that they simply wouldn’t walk around in the open like that. It is a juvenile grey partridge, presumably either escaped or deliberately released from somewhere nearby. Its tameness definitely suggests a captive origin.The dropping of a red grouse. Photograph: Senan Glynn Could you help me identify these gelatinous objects I came across on Muckish in June? I have more pictures if that would help. Senan Glynn, GlasnevinOne picture of this is quite enough, thank you. This is a picture of the dropping of a red grouse. Because the diet of this bird consists mainly of heather, a huge amount of fibre passes through its intestines. Digesting this requires two different processes. Finer, more nutritious particles and fluids are diverted into the caeca (we call it an appendix in our systems), where specialised bacteria ferment and break down hard-to-digest plant cellulose. This produces the soft, dark dropping which is deposited in the morning. The main bulk goes through directly and the woody coarse plant material forms paler coloured, firm, fibrous, cigar-shaped droppings which are deposited very frequently indeed and can accumulate into quite a large pile while the bird is roosting overnight. The nest of the Norwegian wasp, Vespula norwegica, seen in Blackrock, Co Dublin.