Dear Editor,

You can guarantee when harvest starts in my area the guns come out. It is such a pity as I believe the pigeon is the most likely to fall foul of these people who actually enjoy shooting.

The pigeon is not only a beautiful bird but so peace loving and romantic, mating for life which makes the loss of a partner even worse. Also chicks may be left to starve in the nest. They are also vegan which makes them 'bang on trend'!

If part of a large flock they can damage crops but modern bird scarers can be quite a deterrent. They certainly make me leap out of my skin!

I stand to be corrected but I believe that discouraging the birds has to be tried before obtaining a licence to shoot them. As with all our wild life it is protected.

Inflicting on these birds often a very slow and painful death cannot be justified when all they are doing like all of us is trying to stay alive. Sadly we/farmers have removed a great deal of their natural food source by ripping up permanent pasture and wild flower meadows where they would prefer to graze as they do in my garden.

Also the much maligned corvids are shot. These birds should be considered the farmers friend as they root around for grubs in the soil such as leather jackets(crane flies) and actually can do a good job in aerating pasture with their powerful beaks.

In conclusion I would like to say that all of us need to have respect for wildlife and in the case of farmers try every deterrent there is to deter the enemy before resorting to killing it, and maybe sometimes accepting some collateral damage.

I for one would be happy to pay more for my food if I knew that wildlife hadn't suffered in the process.

In my case as long as it's plant based!

Blue Anchor Resident

Residents of Roadwater have received letters from the Environment Agency informing them that it is their intention to reduce their maintenance of the Washford River.

This comes at a time when we are becoming more and more aware of the erratic weather condition brought about by global warming.

Roadwater suffered severe flooding in the 1960’s and more recently flooding in Williton was attributed to the continuing lack of maintenance to the Monksilver Stream

Over recent years the Environment Agency has received many extra millions of pounds to spend on flood prevention in Somerset, including £100,000,000 for the Bridgwater tidal barrier across the Parrett and a further amount for ongoing work on the River Tone.

Bearing these enormous amounts in mind, how much of their budget does it cost to send a small team of workmen, with a chain saw and staff hooks, up the course of the Washford River once a year to cut back anything that is likely to fall into the river and block bridges? Which until recently was what used to happen.

John Nethercott

Roadwater

Dear Editor,

Sandra Jones letter (A ludicrous remark, Fri 25 July) in answer to my letter - turned out to be a character assassination of Trump, Musk and Farage. Well, let us examine some of her points.

Nigel Farage does indeed claim to be a friend of Donald Trump and his MAGA victory; I would wager that many of our country's citizens wish that Farage would enter Downing Street with a MBGA policy (replacing the first A with B for Britain).

Yes, Trump is a felon - but the American people voted him into office. It is not for us on this side of the Atlantic to question them.

Additionally, JFK - the most popular president in the western world - had a succession of young women supplied by his aides for his personal gratification. Admittedly not an offence; however, one mistress, Marilyn Monroe - who wished to replace Jackie Kennedy as 'First Lady', did die in mysterious circumstances.

As for Elon Musk payrolling Reform UK; Farage considered this to be nothing more than a joke - especially when Musk wanted him replaced by Rupert Lowe.

Farage admired Putin's prowess as a leader for his own gains - as compared to our own impotent motley crew who cannot achieve anything of note.

Regarding Free Speech - the Reform leader's quote "in my country you can't say anything or you might be put in prison" - actually came true for Lucy Connolly, who made, albeit, stupid remarks on X after the Southport attacks.

Sandra questions Farage's suitability to lead a government - by which I would assume would include knowledge as well as honesty.

Well let us take into account today's Labour party; led by a defence lawyer (there goes your 'honesty' out of the window, straightaway), no-one in the Cabinet having any business or military experience. Accepting freebies for themselves and their families. And not able to 'smash the gangs'. That's just for starters!

The Conservatives - who I have an inkling Sandra is close to - have a long list of misdemeanors. We all know Boris Johnson has trouble with providing the truth; the 2009 Peter Viggers duck-house and gardening expenses, Owen Paterson's 2021 paid lobbying resignations are just two of the lesser offences I could include. There are some very serious ones I have omitted!

Then there was the election of Nigel Farage in the 2015 Thanet South constituency, where votes went 'missing' for a number of hours and following Craig Mackinlay's victory, a Tory activist, Marion Little, received a suspended prison sentence for issues concerning expenditure.

It appears that the 'Westminster Bubble' has forever done whatever it can to block Farage from front-line politics. The powers that be are adverse to someone who will represent the majority of our countryfolk from betterment - rather than donating our money to all and sundry around the globe.

If Farage does triumph - and does not accomplish what his manifesto claims - I will be the first to denounce him.

Jim Sokol

via email