Observing the birds

SIR: Nigel Summerley’s piece on Observer’s Books (May issue) brought back happy memories of childhood in the 1950s. I still have The Observer’s Book of

Birds and it is interesting to see how many species then common are now seldom seen, while others have become common. The red kite was then restricted to a few parts of Wales, and is now widespread. The bird we know as a dunnock was, in those days, universally known and listed in the book as a hedge sparrow. The book does say that it’s more properly named the hedge accentor and goes on to say, ‘also called dunnock’. Peter Stevens, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire