Where swallows nest

SIR – Roger Keeble (Letters, September 5) wonders where swallows gathered before telephone wires.

I would like to know where they nested before buildings. Up to the Nineties, my father’s farm used to have numerous open buildings frequented by many birds. The conversion of these buildings into high-class houses with little open access for nesting has led to a big fall in the number of swallows. Adrian Waller

Woodsetts, South Yorkshire

SIR – Roger Keeble’s concern over where swallows gathered before phone wires existed is as imponderable as the question of what the inventor of the drawing board went back to. David Shaw

Codford, Wiltshire