A CORNERSTONE OF THIS INSTITUTION

call on their R/T when engaging with the Luftwaffe; without the heroic actions of ‘The Few’, the antis might now have something more serious to worry about.

W Robb, by email

In Simon Garnham’s article on respect for quarry (Truly great shots are truly respectful, 28 September), he reports his yarn of shooting 10 different species in one day. This reminds me of a time when a small group of friends and I had permission to shoot on a local coastal farm where we had a small fleet of water, a small wood and various hedges and copse to shoot.

Our day consisted of a morning flight then a general walk round in two or three groups, ending up in the pub for lunch at about 1.30pm. Numbers of head shot were small, but to make it interesting we had a sweep based on the number of legs in the bag times the number of different species. With maybe 30 legs in the bag, the total for the sweep could be anywhere between 90 and 300. If you had a high number, when a shot rang out from the other side of the wood there was no “good shot”. Rather, the triumphant cry would be “another species”, therefore adding to the multiple.

In saying that, there was never a dangerous shot taken. Losing the sweep was no compensation for losing a friend. Steve Copeland,

Colchester

So far this season, Natural England has failed to issue

175 individual licences across England, plus 18 area-based licences, and it also turns out that most of these licences are in areas that are outside any 3km avian influenza restriction zone. Licences should have

I have just finished reading the 28 September issue of Shooting Times and just want to offer a huge pat on the back to everyone involved with this edition. Excellent reading. I particularly enjoyed the Best of the best pages and would love to see this repeated in future issues. David Tomlinson’s recollections were fascinating, particularly his stating his regret at never having had a submission accepted. As an employee of long standing, David is a cornerstone of this institution.

I was lucky enough to have written for Shooting Times (on all things airgun been issued as of 1 September. It also appears to be advocating shooting to scare — but not actually kill — the bird. If you shoot to scare, you are just moving potentially infected birds around the river system, which in turn can infect other birds. This seems totally at odds with trying to stop the spread of the disease. David Griffiths,

Wiltshire hunting) for two years, under who I believe was Shooting Times’s only female editor. At the time, I was writing for several shooting magazines. I was surprised one day to receive an email from the editor asking how dare

I write for Sporting Rifle

(now incorporated into Shooting Times).

“Do you not realise you are exploiting the kudos and reputation of the UK’S oldest shooting publication?” Camilla seemed unaware that

I had been writing for Sporting Rifle longer than I had for Shooting Times. Unfortunately,

I am a proud man with a short temper. My response was immediate: “Do you not

I am well used to seeing walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers during days in the field with my syndicate. But since the summer we have noticed an increase in youngsters using electric scooters. It has created a bit of debate in our group. Some believe that they are a nuisance that could disrupt the local realise that you are enjoying the kudos and reputation of Ian Barnett, one of the UK’S leading airgun writers?”

Needless to say, I was never allowed to write for Shooting Times again.

Keep up the good work. Ian Barnett, Norfolk wildlife. Others argue that they are no more disruptive than cyclists and certainly dog walkers. I am inclined to agree with the latter, as long as it is carried out sensibly.

However, we recently discovered that e-scooters are illegal to ride in any public place. Despite being readily available for a few hundred pounds, they can only be used on private land, with the land owner’s permission. I’ve also read accounts of the scooters being seized and people getting fines and points on their licence. I would be interested to know if other shoots have this problem, and what their thoughts are. Name and address supplied

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI

Opinion is divided on whether e-scooters pose a problem for wildlife