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
