Name calling

One doesn’t have to look far in the shooting press to encounter the sobriquet ‘bunny hugger’ applied to anyone, from the local bird club to notables such as Chris Packham, the BTO or the RSPB, and, most certainly, Bo Beolens, one would suppose.

The term bunny hugger is not especially offensive, but very effectively declares the contempt in which the gun community holds its opponents. I am wondering whether it’s not time that we set our minds to coming up with a suitably subtle and demeaning term applicable to the shooting fraternity.

Kevin Larkin

attaching their telescopes to this shelf, rather than using a conventional tripod for this purpose.

This is quite impossible to achieve if one of two common practices are put in place in designing these shelves. First, there is the habit of attaching a vertical strip to the front of these shelves. This not only adds to the cost of the shelf but makes it totally impossible to attach any known make of hide clamp to it.

Slightly less prevalent is the habit of making the elbow shelf of such thin wood that the hide clamp shakes uncontrollably whenever someone else in the hide puts their elbows on it. This habit may save a little money, but it has other disadvantages, too – like bowing of the shelf, thus making it uncomfortable for all users.

These points should be made known to the designers of birdwatching hides, along with the imperative of making them suitable for all sizes of birders, whether disabled or able-bodied,

Brian Roberts-Wray