19 MARCH 2005, Page 18

Unlucky duck

From Michael Simons

Sir: Charles Moore draws attention to the RSPB’s refusal to permit the culling of magpies (The Spectator’s Notes, 12 March). This contrasts with that body’s position on the unfortunate ruddy duck. The RSPB supports the lunatic Defra scheme to shoot or trap and kill every ruddy duck in Britain to stop them flying off to Spain and mating with the Spanish white-headed duck, lest the Spanish white headed duck is hybridised into extinction. The Defra position may not surprise us, as it seems rather keen on mass extermination (except for TB-ridden badgers). But the RSPB? Or does the P stand for Politicisation rather than Protection?

Michael Simons Ruislip, Middlesex