Letters to the Editor - October 2011

The article on Cotswold stone walls (Sept) awoke some memories.
When travelling on the A40 between Cheltenham and Burford, I noticed stretches of stone wall about twenty yards long had been renewed. This wasn’t where the derelict wall was worst and doing up these irregular patches did not make sense — that is until I realised that a car had left the road and gone through the wall at that location, so that the car owner’s insurance paid for the wall to be restored.

Next, at Cold Slad, a country park near Leckhampton Hill mentioned
in the article, where a stone wall had been constructed by a government training scheme, I saw my first chicory plants which had grown where the ground had been disturb­ed. This was a large stand but on the ‘wrong’ side of the wall; the country warden was surprised when I showed him.

Lastly, the stone wall around the Northleach churchyard had been topped by flat stones when the wall was restored, probably in the late 1800s. These flat stones were old gravestones placed with the writing side underneath, which had the effect of preserving the writing from the weather. This knowledge would be
a great help to someone doing genealogy research.
John Timbrell, by email

I feel rather differently about editor Paul Jackson’s “large, ugly pylons” (September).
When at boarding school deep in the Sussex countryside in the 1930s (our parents were mostly abroad), we were encouraged to regard pylons with affection and respect. They were, we were told, responsible for bringing electricity to our part of the Weald;  we rejoiced at instant light instead of waiting for oil lamps to be lit all over the house.
Cynthia Castellan, Rugeley

I really enjoyed reading the August edition with its butterfly articles ‘Not So Common Blue’ by Monica Hazell and the adonis blue in ‘Wild about Britain’ by Patrick Barkham.

As a member of Butterfly Conservation I would also like to expand on Michael Barnard’s letter about the valuable advice he recently heard on Gardeners Question Time about gardening plants for butterflies.

It’s a sad fact that over two thirds of the UK’s butterflies are now in serious decline. There are a variety of reasons for this: habitat destruction, changes in agricultural and forestry practices, urban expansion and the drainage of wetlands.

According to Butterfly Conservat­ion there are a number of things we can all do to help. In the UK our gardens cover over two million acres (800,000 ha) of land. That’s fifteen million gardens, each of which can be a mini nature reserve.

To encourage butterflies into your garden, it recommends the planting of plant nectar-rich flowers such as buddleia, ice plant, lavender, Michael­mas daisy, oregano, aubretia, red valerian, French marigold, hebe and candytuft.

Adult butterflies lay eggs on the foodplant of their caterpillar, so make sure you cater for them too. If you have a vegetable patch, grow nasturt­iums to lure large and small white caterpillars away from your brassicas. Stinging nettles (which can be grown in a container) are a favourite of both the red admiral and the comma.

Environmentally friendly gardening can make a big difference, so cut down on your use of herbicides and pesticides — they kill butterflies, moths and many other pollinating insects, including ladybirds and spiders.

If you have the space, create a wildflower meadow. Sow a mixture of wildflower and grass seed on bare ground or let grasses that are already there grow and add wildflower plants.

Finally, get involved! Every year thousands of people record the butterflies they see; these ‘records’
are vital for conservation.
For more information visit the recording and monitoring section of www.butterfly-conservation.org.
Jill Stanton-Huxton, by email

With reference the letter from Hamish MacColl of Kirkby Stephen in the August edition concerning his objection to the use of the name ‘Robbie’ Burns for Scotland’s national bard.

I can assure him this is by no means a mark of disrespect. The Scots are very proud of their national bard and the majority refer to him as ‘Robbie’ or even ‘Rabbie’.

I think it must be accounted for by the Scots’ love and use of diminut­ives. Having recently lived for almost twenty years on the north-west coast of Ross-shire, being English I was surprised at first by this habit: man became ‘mannie’, wife ‘wifie’, sweets (the sucking kind) became ‘sweeties’, and the majority of mens’ names had ‘-ie’ tagged onto the end. So Roderick became Roddie, Kenneth was Kennie, Douglas was Dougie, Lachlan was Lackie and even Hector was known as Heckie.

In England these words and names might be construed as childish, and often used in connection with young children. Not so with the Scots. The largest, strongest or most respected of men will remain Heckie, Robbie or Lackie all their lives. This is especially true of the West Coast, Highlands and Islands.

I can only assume that this love for and use of diminutives is used as a term of endearment, for the Scots are warm and kind people. Disrespect in the name of Robbie Burns is the last thing they would associate with that great poet.

With a name like Hamish MacColl, I am somewhat surprised that he is not aware of this.
Margaret Free, Windermere

I was so pleased to read ‘Country Diary’ for August. I’m sure the subject of AONBs must have struck
a chord with many readers.

I read in The Times that twenty-two of Britain’s largest environmental and conservation organisations have started a campaign to protest to government about this irreversible threat to our finite natural resource: the countryside. I do hope The Countryman will also put its ‘shoulder to the wheel’.
There is also an issue with pylons and wind turbines; both being pushed forward with no regard for the consequences.
John Hodgkins, by email

I am no botanist and certainly can’t tell you actually why the reader’s cowslip (‘Curiouser & Curiouser, Aug) is red, but as a child in the 1940s it was always a delight every year to find that, among the cowslips flowering in the meadow alongside the house, there was always a reddish-brown cowslip. Also, under the trees among the many wild primroses were one or two pale pink ones.

As the people previously living in the house had been keen gardeners, could there have been some cross-pollination from plants of the primula family growing in the garden?
Rosemary Pickering, by email

All success to Charlie Dimmock and her Be Plant Wise campaign (Sept).
As far as I know, the weeds she refers to clog the waterways — troublesome enough, but perhaps a greater danger is Japanese knotweed which is exceedingly difficult to eradicate. It grows at an alarming rate and can grow through concrete, destabilising buildings.

Japanese knotweed should, I suggest, be a notifiable hazard, and local authorities should be obliged to take steps to kill it off. At present, if it is identified, it is the responsibility
of prospective developers to rid the area which some might be loath to do and would prefer to lose the site. Consequently, if no one has respons­ib­il­ity, the weed will go on flourishing and spreading.
Could Be Plant Wise include Japanese knotweed in the campaign?
Sheila Mcbrearty, Honiton

I wondered if any contributors or readers had ever come across the term ‘Devil’s Darning Needles’ when applied to plant, insect or animal?

This name is applied as a common name to the plant Clematis virginiana in the USA, but I have not been able to find out why.

There may be a link to C vitalba in Welsh folklore, which may have been applied to our old man’s beard. Therefore may it have been brought to the USA by Welsh settlers? We are discounting North American Indian origin as they do not believe in the Devil as such, their belief is of ‘evil spirits’.
Also, dragonflies have been given this name, as they were supposed to be able to sew up the mouths of naughty children.
Roy W Nunn, Cambridge

A Merseyside evacuee to deepest rural Shropshire during the Second World War wrote home to his parents: “They feed us on grass.”
He had not, during his young life, seen runner beans before!
Michael Mander