Unflappable birds

sir – I was once ploughing a field in Scotland and noticed an oystercatcher in the middle of it, apparently sitting on eggs (Letters, July 20).

The bird sat tight until the tractor came close but eventually flew away, leaving her eggs in a slight indentation in the soil. I stopped and picked up the eggs, putting them in my hat on ground already turned, then ploughed over the nest site. I replaced the eggs where I estimated the bird had been sitting.

Within a few minutes the oystercatcher was back on the nest, sitting quite contentedly. Andrew Lukas

Moreton-in-marsh, Gloucestershire

sir – Our local recycling centre has not been accepting cardboard since a pair of wagtails decided to build their nest in the skip. The hardy little birds are unperturbed by all that goes on around them. Kirsty Blunt

Sedgeford, Norfolk