Letters to the Editor - December 2008

I enjoyed Miriam Darlington’s article about rosehips in the October Countryman and the editor’s memories of collecting rosehips.

I too remember collecting rosehips as a child in the Cotswolds in the early 1960s. After a weekend spent scouring the hedgerows, we took the hips to school, and for our labours were awarded with a badge if we had gathered a certain quantity (5lb I think).

I can also remember the ‘rosehip man’ calling at the school to collect the rosehips in hessian sacks to be taken away to be made into syrup. I still have the badge bearing the words ‘Optrose Rose Hip Syrup’.

Nowadays I still occasionally collect rosehips, but for my own winemaking. I see plenty of people picking blackberries, but have never seen anyone else gathering rosehips.

Stephen Sharp, Lancing, West Sussex

Having just read the article on rosehips in the October issue, I write to tell you that my sister, twin brothers and I were introduced to the various fruits of the hedgerows by our mother many years ago, and every autumn we still look forward to gathering what is available.

We see people picking blackberries but that is all. I find great enjoyment in picking rosehips, elderberries, sloes, damsons, crab apples etc, for making jam or wine, and hope to do for so for a few more years yet.

Jean Vousden, Beccles, Suffolk

I am writing to tell you about a recent incident which you may find hard to believe.

My wife and I, both in our early eighties but active, live in a small cottage with a large garden in a Hertfordshire hamlet.

The other day my wife found that one of the bird-nesting boxes had fallen to the ground. She saw the remains of part of nesting material protruding, so decided to pull out the nest, since the box appeared to be empty. Suddenly a dormouse shot out at her feet and disappeared.

At 11.30pm we went upstairs to go to bed. She went into our guest bedroom to take off her skirt to hang in the wardrobe — when I heard a loud shriek of “Come quickly, I have a dormouse on my back!”. I had to tell her to stay still so I could admire the attractive little chap — beautiful large eyes, lovely ginger coat, creamy chest and short hair-covered tail.

However, I missed catching it and things developed into a very comic situation, with both of us half-dressed, moving two beds, blocking a large chest of drawers with books and photo albums until we finally edged our now friend behind a paper shredder in one corner.

The dormouse didn’t panic at all, and we finally secured it in a towel and then released it to spend the rest of the night in the garden.

It had been up her skirt at the back between the fabric and the lining by the waistband for eight-and-a-half hours. She never felt a movement and the dormouse wasn’t hurt in the slightest — just pleasantly warm.

Richard and Joan Mather, Leominster

This epitaph was discovered on a grave in St Mylor churchyard, Mylor, near Falmouth. I made a note of it, as my husband’s mother was a Banfield:

In Memory of Richard Banfield
who departed this life November
the 6 1788 the 76 year of his age.
Here the wicked cease from troubling
Here the wearied be at rest
Reader who ere thou art
that view this stone
Banfield’s fate will one day be thy own

Diana E Manning, Drumlemble by Campbeltown

I have been reading an excellent book about Sussex. It is very comprehensive, but I was surprised by an omission — there is no mention of reservoirs.

There are seven in or on the edge of the county. I can understand a possible reluctance to write about angling but they are of considerable significance for wildlife.

It is not just the water that is protected from intrusive agricultural chemicals, but also the surrounding land. Thus insects thrive and consequently so do birds and animals as well as the fish.

Water birds obviously benefit — likewise osprey, heron and kingfisher.

Trout are often present and were introduced once as a test of water quality like canaries in coalmines.
I have also visited over twenty trout fisheries and look forward to watching the wildlife, from grass snakes to deer as well as birds, always with the possibility of fresh trout for dinner.

The fees we pay for the fishing contribute to the maintenance of clean, unpolluted habitats which might otherwise be subject to agricultural practices.

Reservoirs are not just for water but are also reservoirs of wildlife.

Michael Barnard, Lewes, Sussex

As elderly tower-block residents, and interested in nature, our window gives us an ever-changing picture of roofs, chimmey pots and birds. Recently we observed two herring gulls and their three chicks. They were born behind the pots out of sight, but slowly they appeared and spent more time in view.

When one exercised its wings too vigorously, it toppled onto the roof slope, and had to learn to walk around and nestle on its own. A week later another did the same thing, and at the end of the second week, all three were on the roof together.

Several times a day, we checked them and waited for their flight, though they spent a week or more trying vertical ‘lift-offs’ etc.

Now they have flown to join the usual daily flocks of gulls who rest on our roof ridge, as do many other birds at differing times and seasons.

Mrs Balls, Southend-on-Sea

Crows or rooks? I once read a poem describing the above question and supplying an amusing answer, but I can’t recollect or locate said poem.

I wonder if anyone can help?

Mike Bohin, by email

I am not sure how much the sparrowhawk is responsible for the decline of songbirds (I have never seen one in our garden), but I am worried about the combined effect of magpie, grey squirrel and domestic cats. Magpies and grey squirrels are well known for eating both eggs and young chicks, while cats specialise in the killing of fledglings while they can’t fly properly and/or are not yet aware of the threat of being on the ground. I counted nine magpies on our lawn the other morning; I know of at least two grey squirrels in the area; and there are countless domestic cats in our neighbourhood.

I just wish the Government had spent a fraction of the time that they did on getting foxhunting banned on getting domestic cats under control.

Chris Smith, Horsehay, Shropshire

Bravo Mr Field (October 2008), some clear thinking at last!

Of course we should kill (sorry, I mean cull) all the birds of prey; but why stop there? We must take out all the big birds which threaten with extinction the small birds. Then we should kill (sorry, I mean cull) all the smaller birds which spread disease all over the country.

Then, once all birdlife has been exterminated, should we not kill all foxes, badgers, squirels and any other animals left out of the list: cats and dogs (whether wild or domestic); cows, horses, chickens, sheep, pigs, goats, all of which are potentially spreaders of diseases, and any other animals not listed here? Then should we not exterminate the human population, the greatest threat of all to society generally, and leave the world to the Daleks?

Nigel Jaffe, Threshfield, Yorkshire

I loved the sparrowhawk on the cover of Countryman (October).

This morning one visited my garden and sat in a tree a few feet from my window. I gazed at her through my binoculars — it was like eye-to-eye contact. Her eyes were very yellow and bright, and I think she was on the lookout for prey.

As I feed the wild birds regularly there is always a good selection that gather around the feeders, but this morning there was not one in sight for a good twenty minutes after the sparrowhawk left.

What a thrill — and all from my armchair.

Dorothy Wise, Clanfield, Oxon

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Countryman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AG
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