Skua's revenge
Sir: Jo Grimond's view from Finstown Manse of snipe probing his lawns (14 February) conjures up a rustic idyll which is far from the harsh realities confronting wildlife in the northern isles.
Here; prosperous Orcadians plough up the last wild harrier-rich heaths, turning heather into EEC beef-hills. Oil tankers spew out greasy bilge coating tysties and guillemots and leaving a grim strand line of tarry corpses. Small-time sand and gravel operators mine away the fine sandy shores of these isles to provide lime for farmers and mix for concrete.
From the far corners of the earth, wherever Roger Tory Peterson's name is revered, come droves of 'twitchers' to tramp the hay fields of Fair Isle or the moors of Unst; photographing, driving, ringing, weighing what's left of red-throated divers, merlins, or booted warblers.
All I can say is thank God that the great skuas are striking back; if any of them are literate, Mr Grimond had better look out the next time he's on the hills of Hoy!
John A. Forster Dalsack, Finzean, Aberdeenshire
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