Bird block

ReCeNT reports have suggested an obsession with ‘elf ’n’ safety’ has led to timidity among those trained and paid to protect us. This may not be a wholly new phenomenon.

In 1948, I was riding my bike on the A4, which in those days was the main road to the West from london. About two miles east of hungerford I came to a long line of stationary cars and lorries, with no traffic in the righthand lane. A blocked road was an uncommon sight in those days.

I cycled on and found a policeman standing near a swan, which was sitting in the road. he told me the RSPCA had been called to remove it.

When I asked why he hadn’t moved it, he told me that swans couldn’t be touched because they can break your arm — a myth that persists to this day.

I picked up the swan, which was surprisingly light and didn’t react, and placed it on the verge. The traffic went on its way.

JOHN LE COYTE, Bishopstone, Wilts.