Sir, As a farmer, landowner and shooting enthusiast I fail to recognise the “shooting industry” cited by Simon Barnes (Wild Notebook, Mar 5). It is wrong to brand all those involved in game shooting as being selective with respect to the laws to which they adhere.
For every grouse moor there are thousands of smaller shoots consisting of people with a genuine love of nature conservation who would certainly consider the killing of a bird of prey to be a crime. On my own shoot we have planted large areas of native trees, a mile of new hedgerow and provide food crops for farmland birds. The raptors thrive.
James Attrill
Whitwell, Isle of Wight