Did rising temperature drive lake wildlife mad?

ANYONE who even occasionally walks around The Lough in Cork city will be used to seeing close up some interesting wildlife antics from time to time.

But last Friday was a particularly strange day. I only had time for one quick lap but during that time I saw at least a dozen large carp (two feet or more in length) continually rushing to and rolling over on the surface of the water, creating quite a stir; a goosander chasing and hitting with quite a belt another goosander in mid-air (I’ve often seen them chasing each other but never anything quite as hard-hitting as this before), and a hooded crow chase a heron (granted a relatively small heron but at least three or four times the size of the crow) out of the trees on the island and around the lake.

And all this in a 10-minute lap. I wonder has the sudden rise in temperature, welcome and all as it is, driven the wildlife mad or maybe reminded them of the botulism (if I remember correctly) that plagued the lake last summer?