While it’s so sad to hear about the decline in the number of butterflies, partly due to the wet spring weather (‘Warning sign to us all’ as UK butterfly numbers hit record low, 29 July), I have declared it “the year of the snail”, as the population of these creatures seems to have exploded this year, with no birds such as the song thrush around to eat them.
Sheila Preston
Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
• Sue Moser’s letter (Pylons can be pretty if you use your imagination, 29 July) made me recall Stephen Spender’s poem The Pylons. In it, Spender refers to pylons as being symbolic of the impact of change and industrialisation, and describes them as being “like nude giant girls that have no secret”.
Norma Postin
Rugby, Warwickshire
• In her book Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel wrote: “in pastureland, the pylons lift their skirts in a ferrous gavotte.” Quite imaginative.
Jim Vickers
Redcar, North Yorkshire
• Re your article on shopping bags (Number of plastic bags found on UK beaches down 80% since charge introduced, 29 July), what about imposing a charge on dog poo bags as well, with a higher premium for those that are to be left hung on trees?
Elaine Steane
Oxford
• The phrase I most feared hearing (Letters, 26 July) was when Tory ministers spoke of having to make “difficult decisions”, as the difficulty always fell on us rather than them. Unfortunately, our new government seems to want to continue this charade.
Paul Johns
Stoke Poges, Bucking
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