Birds and berries under threat

AS we ride round the lanes, my horse and I have been admiring Nature’s bountiful array of berries. Today, in some places, all that has gone with one sweep of a flail (Letters, October 11 and 18). I fail to understand why, on one hand, we do our best to protect the wild-bird population, but, on the other hand, Defra pushes farmers into cutting their hedges at this time of year as a condition of the Basic Payment Grant Scheme. Kay Webb, Gloucestershire