Don’t flush water down the toilet

‘We don’t need to flush it every time.’ Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Why does no one ever suggest that we flush the loo less often (UK facing drought in August following extreme heat, 25 July)? We don’t need to flush it every time. And if everyone flushed every other time they used it, we’d presumably save a vast amount of water and could perhaps avoid hosepipe bans. When I lived in the south of Egypt in 1979-81, it was standard practice to save water.
Jane Greening
St Neots, Cambridgeshire

• I was reassured to read that Derek Niemann still has plenty of collared doves living in his patch (Country Diary, 14 July). In Chester, we had collared doves aplenty until a few years ago. Then suddenly they disappeared. My parents, living on the Wirral, have noticed exactly the same decline. Wood pigeon numbers have not been affected. Whatever the cause, there is some hope that collared doves can repopulate the areas from which they have largely disappeared if they are thriving in Bedfordshire.
Jacky Creswick
Chester