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Your letters and Tales from the Bush

I am writing in response to ‘Should I Swat a Fly?’ by Helen Pilcher (October 2018). During the hot summer, I swatted many horse-flies. They inflicted painful bites to me and my horse. Last October, I was stung by a wasp, which had crawled into my nightclothes. When I related the story to friends, their response was: “Well, I hope you killed it”. What was the difference between the horse-flies and wasp? Nothing really – both are hated and vilified, along with dozens of misunderstood creatures. If they don’t ‘fit’ it seems we don’t like them. I have noticed over recent years a steady decline in species we like to loathe, including crane flies, spiders, flying ants, house flies, earwigs and herring gulls. I cannot say what the solution is to this, except education. Many years ago, I used to teach a wildlife module at an agricultural college, including lessons on food chains and the consequences of our actions upon it. I had a proud moment when one of my students said, “When I left the house this morning, there was a snail on the path. Usually, I would have trodden on it, but thanks to your lessons I walked around it!” Jill Thrower, via email