Don’t just blame agriculture

Sir, – In response to Harry Key’s letter (“Clean windscreen is a sinister sign”, July 9.

He should be aware that in the Arran area there will be next to zero chemical use, given that there are no arable crops.

Farming uses extremely small dose rates of insecticides which are also very selective in the pests they target.

Sprayer operators are also highly trained in the safe use of chemicals and how to keep them away from hedgerows and watercourses – unlike thousands of gardeners who aren’t similarly trained.

He also wonders if insecticides are to blame for the decline in bird numbers.

May I suggest he notes the number of birds of prey which thrive on smaller birds.

Farming also never gets the recognition it deserves for the number of environmental schemes that it undertakes.

Given I operated a crop sprayer for 20 years wearing nothing more than jeans and a t-shirt, and I am in perfectly good health, may I suggest he’s barking up the wrong tree in suggesting insecticides are eradicating insect life in the area?

As are most of the socalled naturists, and until they stop blaming only agriculture then the UK’s wildlife doesn’t stand a chance.

Peter Allison. Oathlaw,

Forfar.

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The Hard Brexit faction in conjunction with Trump wants a complete divorce from the EU, motivated by the absurd fantasy of regaining a lost imperial greatness and, in a more sinister way, the fuller implementation of an even more vicious neoliberalism