Letter: Osprey sitings

Sir: The magnificent photograph of an osprey on the cover of the Weekend section (17 June) was accompanied by a text stating that until the Fifties this bird did not nest in this country.

My 1920 bird book questions whether the osprey could still be considered to be resident - as "one after another its historical eyries have been deserted ... the eyrie at Loch Arkaig was deserted in 1911, that on Loch- an-Ailein a few years earlier". It goes on to refer to the greed of collectors: clearly, nothing has changed.

Yours faithfully,

B. A. BENCE

West Charleton

Devon

18 June