Balanced perspective on predators
I listened to an excellent interview on the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme with a gentleman called Philip Merricks. He was talking about predators and their control on his 3,000-acre farm (and nature reserve) in Kent. Mr Merricks spoke eloquently about a problem that affects amberand red-listed game, songbirds and waders. It is a nationwide issue and Mr Merricks certainly knew his stuff. Given the general licences fiasco of 2019 and the less than clear rules around corvid control, he should be given more airtime so that people ignorant of the facts could be enlightened.
The whole of that particular episode of Farming Today highlighted the benefits of lethal predator control to many of our declining farmland species, a refreshing perspective given the stance of some of the BBC’s more wellknown naturalists. Teresa Thompson, via email