I SAW three red kites circling over a cat in a field near me.
They looked like they were thinking of pouncing down on it.
I didn't think red kites ate living things. Don't they just eat carrion ?
Sandra T.,
Swindon.

IN recent weeks I have nearly hit muntjac deer on the road three times.
Surely these animals need to be culled because they are breeding so fast.
They are creating a real danger for motorists.
Ron McAllister,
Oxfordshire.

PLEASE ask motorists reading your site to be more careful driving at night ?
So much wildlife is killed because drivers are going too fast when it is dark.
No-one seems to realise this.
Greg Keane,
Bristol.

IF Tony Blair is looking for a new job why doesn't he help the Campaign for Rural England clean the countryside up ?
Oh, sorry, he's too busy being Laurence Olivier.
Eddie Theakston,
Dorset.

WHY don't we go back to old-fashioned scarecrows ?
They were quite charming in their way and, unlike today's noisy bird scarers, did not emit environmental noise pollution.
Greg Paton,
Hampshire.

NOW that Tony Blair's reign is over, we should take a good look at the damage to the countryside he inflicted over the last decade.
This smiling charlatan should hang his head in shame.
Of course, he won't. Hitler never did either.
Roger Lanes,
Macclesfield.

AFTER all the relentless campaigning by anti-hunt groups and the introduction of an anti-hunting law, hunting is now more popular than ever, it seems.
Personally, I can see both sides of this particular issue but the thing that is clearest is that this was a very bad law, made too quickly.
Back to the drawing board or drop the law completely, I say.
Simon Winters,
Somerset.

THE ridiculous Government plans to build houses over some of our most beautiful countryside must be stopped.
With Tony Blair on the way out, we should take this opportunity to see behind the 'spin' and dig our heels in over what amounts to desecration of our rural areas.
If we all do a little bit - writing angry letters to MPs etc - we stand a better chance of thwarting these plans than if we just stand back and leave the work to conservation groups.
Come on, England !
Frank Taylor,
Oxford.

THE incident on Lundy where there is now a cull of rabbits after the recent cull of rats is proof that if we humans continue to cull one animal for the so called benefit of another, we will cause yet another problem.
It is time that the people who have control of such matters stopped trying to play God with nature and allowed the balance of life to reassert itself.
Mrs Valerie Hutchin,
Arlesey,
Bedfordshire.

IT was a shame that a young girl nearly died from a snake bite in Yorkshire, as you reported, but I hope no-one takes it into their head to kill every snake they see as a result.
Personally speaking, I was rather encouraged by the fact that adders are still to be found so far north.
I thought there were now so few adders around that they only lived in the south of England.
They are tiny, beautiful creatures and will only bite if put under tremendous duress.
I remember seeing them quite often as a boy growing up near the New Forest but sadly haven't seen any for a long time now.
Gordon Chase,
Oxford.

THE comments by Jim Webster regarding fox hunting seem to miss the vital fact that even if he were to call in the local hunt, who's season has now finished, they still have no guarantee of catching the single particular fox that allegedly killed his lamb.
He can resort to the simple method of control using a prescribed and legal rifle to do the job, and this is surely both more humane, and more selective !
Hunts do not meet 'to order' - their calendars are often set out months in advance, and aren't geared up to meet the needs of a single farmer, where they may not have access to land around the farm to enable them to pursue their quarry.
In addition, the results of the election seem likely to ensure that the 'temporary ban' on hunting, as it was called by Simon Hart, is less than temporary, but more likely to be permanent.
Hopefully, now, the hunts will accept this fact and begin to work together to ensure that they remain legal in their activities.
I have no objections to anyone riding a horse across the countryside with dogs following a scent trail.
My single objection is to the unnecessary, senseless slaughter of a terrified animal after it has been chased to the point of exhaustion, purely for someone's pleasure.
Keith Hutchin,
Cambridge.

CONGRATULATIONS to you
on your most interesting and informative website.
An Australian black swan (possibly from a private source?) has recently joined a cob and pen at Dromantine lake in south west County Down, Northern Ireland.
The trio appear to be enjoying a most civilised relationship.
You'll find photographs of same here
All the best.
Gerard McLoughlin,
County Down,
Northern Ireland.

SO at long last the ban on hunting with dogs will come into force.
Like many others I am delighted to see the end of such cruel 'sports'.
I am not against people riding round the countryside, leaping fences and enjoying a good day out.
I am against the cruelty of the kill and stress involved to the wildlife in hunting with dogs.
I am pleased that many hunts will go 'drag hunting' and I hope they enjoy themselves.
I cannot see why they should not, the only difference in their day out will be the fact that wild animals will not have been terrorised - the people, dogs and horses will all have had fun.
Mary Curran,
Bedfordshire.

TONY Blair's Britain and Tony Blair's Iraq are now united in a grotesque commentary on the dangers of the overweening ambitions of one man.
I don't hunt but I am a country lover and was sickened by the sight of police battering respectable rural people who had come to London to protest at the insane anti-hunting Bill.
I cannot understand why the Labour Party - once a noble cause for the furtherment of people without a voice - can stomach this wretched, smarmy man as their leader.
He seems to possess not a shred of genuine honour and, as for the claim he was 'thinking of quitting for family reasons', I don't believe it for a second.
He is determined to hold onto power by his fingernails and, I believe, would sell his own granny for five more years in power.
Tony Blair is turning the country against itself everywhere one looks.
Is there no-one who will rid us of this spectre ?
Clive Allen,
Gloucester.

CAN I call on your website to help alert people to encroachment on our precious Greenfield areas.
I have never known such unwarranted pressure being put on areas of outstanding natural beauty by a Government, in collusion with greedy developers.
We must all do what little we can to resist and repel.
Dorothy Parks,
Hertfordshire.

IT is time to give the Green Party the chance to run this country.
At least they are unlikely to build over green spaces etc. We should vote them in for a change, see what happens.
Norman Carter,
Surrey.

I THINK , 'Zeb' of London, that the country would be in a better state with David Cameron running it.
New Labour are the most corrupt, incompetent and anti-British group of UK politicians we have ever suffered under in my lifetime.
Peter H.,
Coventry.

IMAGINE if David Cameron was running the country ?
There would be stupid wind farms everywhere, ruining all the best views.
Zeb,
London.

DON'T expect Gordon Brown to be any kinder than Blair on country issues.
Brown is just a students union rep grown up.
P. Pot,
Edinburgh.

TONY Blair never understood the countryside, that was his real problem.
He was a cosseted, spoilt little boy who grew into a metropolitan monster.
The worst thing was seeing those weeping, clapping idiots in Sedgefield when he did his usual over the top speech. Made me feel sick.
Clive Granger,
Leicester.

IT is unfair of people to expect the police to enforce Labour's law against fox hunting.
They have more than enough to do trying to keep law and order in a society sinking under binge boozing and violence.
I think the police should just refuse to get involved and concentrate on real crime.
Miles Goodman,
Worcester.

I WAS at a country show recently and was amazed at the sight of tiny children being left in control of really rather large ponies.
The children seemed very capable and there were no accidents.
However, surely parents should be told to stay in attendance with their youngsters just in case an animal bolts.
It did seem a bit risky to me, especially as some children seemed to be no older than eight or nine.
Patricia Howson,
Gloucestershire.

AS a volunteer with the local Marine Life Rescue (part of British Diver Marine Life Rescue) I would ask anyone with an interest in conserving seals to go on to our website and see the work we do.
Our main aim is to sight and record seal, dolphin, porpoise and whale activity, also to uplift any abandoned sick seal pups.
Most of the time though is spent recording and arranging uplift of dead 'shot seals'.
We have a serious problem with one or two of our local salmon net fishermen who appear hell bent on slaughtering any seal in the area, large or tiny and who have no regard for the close season for shooting.
So I ask anyone who is interested in cetaceans to please look at our site and post a message of support or sign our guestbook.
Mrs Sue Horne,
Montrose.

YOUR bloodthirsty correspondents who support foxhunting should be ashamed of themselves.
Foxes are wonderful animals that should be protected from the worst excesses of human nature.
I think I am now in the majority of people who are very happy about the recent ban on hunting with dogs.
Why would anyone want to see the cruel death of this lovely dog-like animal ?
This is one of the few things Tony Blair has got right.
April Thomas,
Swindon.

I LIVE in a gravel-bearing part of West Oxfordshire that has been mined for decades by minerals operators.
Very little of the countryside round here has been spared, and now even that little (an area between the Thames and the Windrush rivers) is about to be the subject of a planning application by Hanson Aggregates to Oxfordshire County Council.
I have been looking at the minerals planning policies of this county and comparing them with the policies of neighbouring counties and have come across a very enlightened view from Northamptonshire County Council.
On the subject of the Nene Valley, they admit in their Structure Plan that the landscape has been changed very much by years of gravel extraction and conclude that 'the Nene can no longer continue to provide for minerals extraction at past rates without excessive environmental impact'.
Nothing like this appears in the Oxfordshire Structure Plan, and indeed Oxfordshire County Council appears hell-bent on continuing to allow extraction in the Upper Thames/Windrush Valley at the current rates, with no end in sight.
I wondered whether 'Country Reflections' could put me in touch with any (protest?) group in Northamptonshire which might have contributed to this view being taken by the Northamptonshire planners.
Mrs Julie Hankey,
Witney,
Oxon.

I SPOTTED a weasel the other day while out walking - the first for a long time.
I wonder why these little animals seem to 'disappear' from local areas for years and then suddenly reappear.
It can't be because of lack of prey - there must be thousands of mice and rats down my way to feed on.
Perhaps there are other elements.
Maybe someone could answer that.
Josh Penfold,
Derby.

I NOTICED a heron standing on top of a neighbour's roof the other day.
I thought these large birds were normally confined to lakes and rivers.
My neighbour does have a pond in her garden so is it possible the heron was waiting to catch a frog or fish ?
Should I tell my neighbour about this ?
Janet Bell,
Leighton Buzzard.
(Editor - I would imagine the heron was after a frog or fish. Telling your neighbour might give her a chance to prevent the heron emptying her pond of life)

THE gathering of hares reminded me of a circle of herons, ten in number , in a field south of the River Nene in Northampton.
They, too, were in a circle and gradually moved sideways and paired up leaving two opposite each other - it was some time before they decided to meet in the centre.
It seemed to be a mating ritual as it happened on a very cold February day about 15 years ago.
A couple of years later the land was used for gravel extraction but we did see six heron in a small circle a few years later.
However, although we watched for at least an hour, nothing more happened.
There are still a great many heron in the Nene Valley but it is something we have never seen again.
I have only just found your website, it is most interesting.
Mrs Barbara Wilmer,
Northampton.

RECENTLY, while on the coast watching peregrines, we saw the tiercel (male) leave his perch, circle quickly upwards to about 350-400 feet, and take a rock dove or feral pigeon - but from below.
It seemed to hit the belly of the prey and the presumably stunned bird fell to the rocks below where it was picked up and carried to the nest ledge high above.
We have never heard of a peregrine taking prey from below. Is this normal behaviour?
Lindsay Wright ,
Nottingham.

WHY don't we allow wild boar to be shot like other countries do ?
In Germany and France it is called sport.
Very tasty meat it is, too, as I have tried it on many occasions.
Lynne Banks,
East Sussex.

I WAS almost knocked down by a wild boar in the Forest of Dean last week.
It just ran out of a bush and careered past.
I must say I was quite shocked.
P. Coleman,
Gloucester.

I WAS out in my van delivering something down a country lane in Oxfordshire yesterday.
Something shot across the road in front of me.
It wasn't a dog or a fox, nor I think a deer.
It looked like a large black cat.
A. L.,
Oxford.

BADGERS 'cause a lot of damage where I live' says Richard P. from Somerset.
Does this fool not know that they were probably living there for centuries before his house and all the others were built. You're on their land !
Grace,
Stevenage.

BADGERS cause a lot of damage where I live.
They spread tuberculosis to cows and make houses unsafe by digging up land underneath.
I agree with farmers that they should be killed.
Richard P.,
Somerset.

FOXES are lovely wild animals and I don't see why anyone should want to hurt them.
They do a lot of good in the countryside by eating sick and diseased animals.
I was glad about Labour's law.
Paul B.,
Northampton.

I HOPE the Tories bring back foxhunting if they get back in.
Labour's ban was just about class hatred.
Foxes spread disease and make a mess everywhere they go.
Kylie Morris,
London.

I SPOTTED a redwing in my neighbour's garden the other day, tucking into a juicy windblown apple.
I thought redwings only visited us in winter when it's too cold in Norway or wherever they come from.
Is this just another example of global warming ? If it is, the redwing seemed very happy about it.
Ted Lowe,
Tring.

THOSE opposed to foxhunting may be pleased to hear that a recent study by the University of Bristol has shown that "losses by predation (by foxes) of lambs, piglets and poultry are insignificant relative to other causes of mortality." (McDonald, Baker and Harris).
And those who insist that foxes are vermin and need to be controlled should look to the comments printed in the Times by Lord Daresbury, chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association complaining about "a lack of foxes and berating land owners who do too little to encourage them to breed."
If they are vermin, why encourage them to breed ? Answer, so they can be hunted. QED.
Keith Hutchin,
Cambridge.

I TAKE issue with the gentleman from the capital who thinks it 'pathetic' to be interested in country matters.
Why take such a negative view when there are so many other issues worthy of such ire ?
Perhaps he should take a nice walk in the countryside and cheer himself up.
Bob Barker,
Durham.

SITES like yours make me laugh they are so pathetic.
People are not genuinely interested in 'country matters'.
They are only concerned with 'rising house prices' and the 'danger' of illegal traveller camps near their precious homes.
Bill Oddie, Country Reflections, and other 'wildlife celebrating' organisations just buy into nostalgia about how Britain used to be.
P. Nelson,
London.

I REALLY must take issue with people who see the fox as some peace-loving resident of the countryside, idly going about his or her business, doing no harm to no-one.
Foxes cause major problems for farmers by killing lambs and, apart from that, also dismember and kill many other species.
Granted, foxes can't pop down to their local Tesco for some food and need to kill to eat but this should not alter the picture of what they are - red-toothed killers.
Lester Middleton,
Shrewsbury.

I SEEM to be spotting more buzzards this year than ever before while out and about on rambles.
Has there been a population rise of this bird in recent years ?
Red kites, too, seem far more common in our area than before.
It is a pleasure to look up at the sky and see either of these birds wheeling above one's head.
Kate Morley,
High Wycombe.

GREAT to see a British country website reminding me of home.
I left the UK in 1989 and still miss the sights and sounds of a country ramble through my native Yorkshire.
South Africa is a wonderful country with fine weather and superb wildlife but, believe it or not, I sometimes yearn for a rainy day in Leeds.
British people don't know how lucky they are !
Rick Smith,
Durban,
South Africa.

IT is interesting to read a site about British country ways, especially hunting.
Why do the British tie themselves in so many knots over this issue ?
In France, those who want to hunt, hunt, those who don't, don't.
It seems very simple to me.
'Patric',
Lyons.

THINK of the shoreline and the lonely shore,
Where birds dip and the winds roar.
Travel in time to our childhood selves,
Marking the world through abandoned shells.
Scooped in our hands, the sands of time,
Trickling through fingers, mercurial grime,
Falling away, all our mud pies,
Now taking with them, the scales from our eyes.
Mo Benson,
Boston, USA.

I WRITE from Finland and bring my good wishes to you all.
It is nice to see people in your country caring about the wildlife.
The wildlife here is bigger, like whales, but we like it as much as you like your badgers and birds.
Finland is a very beautiful country and everyone should visit sometime.
We like people to visit from UK and they often have good stories to tell us about your way of life.
So long and good luck.
'Joz',
Helsinki,
Finland.

IT makes my blood boil to see what the Government are doing to this country.
Cheap, affordable housing sounds like a great idea until you end up living next to a dreadful new estate which only spawns vandalism and theft.
Mark Rae,
Chester.