Balanced view on pleasures of shooting as a sport

I hope the pupil (Nigel Dickinson) continues with clay shooting and gets real pleasure from the sport, as thousands of people, of all ability levels do, and I feel sure that with a tutor like Duncan Greaves he will do well and be well advised.

The article was all the more welcome, in view of the tragedies, in Cumbria and Northumbria recently, in illustrating that anything to do with guns is not necessarily bad. However, I would not want Nigel to think that anyone shooting game or other live quarry was "killing something for the sake of it".

There are many different types of shooting live quarry, be it wildfowling, driven game, walked up, or rough shooting, where birds are shot, and it is mainly for the table, and game meat is very good, and very healthy. Even pest species like wood pigeon, rabbit, or even grey squirrel, can be found on menus up and down the country.

There are many game dealers in Yorkshire, who handle large numbers of game, in season, all "free range" and all given a "sporting chance". There is a growing number of people taking up shooting, of all disciplines, and the best advice is the same as ever, get good tuition, and practise, but most of all enjoy your sport.

From: David Crosland, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.

From: JW Buckley, Aketon, Pontefract.

Dear me, Lyn Hodgson (Country Week, July 10) has mentioned the elephant in the room – "unless we halt the rapid expanding human population".

When talking of climate change, carbon footprint, impact on the environment, etc, what is never, ever mentioned is the elephant – there are too many of us. I shall watch the letters column with interest to see if others will dare to mention this.

From: Mark Thompson, Wicstun Cottage, Bridge Farm, Market Weighton.

I refer to a letter on the subject of our obsession with manicured roadside verges and grass mowing. Councils, one of the worst culprits, in this recession-era of cuts, would do well to seriously review some of their practices.

While I understand the need to mow roadside verges for safety reasons, surely mowing the whole verge right back to the hedge is a needless waste of taxpayers' money, never mind the effect on wildlife and the environment.

But what really beggars belief is the "job" of our parish council. Having spent our council tax to purchase a special mower, they proceed to mow (three times so far this year) the already trampled and short grass on local public footpaths. How can they justify this triple whammy – cut wild flowers in full bloom, starve struggling bees; pollute the environment with CO2 from said mower and waste our money paying to do said job?

From: Leanne Mallory, Guiseley, West Yorkshire.

For over a year now I've been trying to start a social farming project, rearing pigs and chickens and teaching people of all ages how their sausage sandwich, Sunday roast and boiled egg are produced, proving how easy and convenient it is to buy the ingredients locally.

The biggest problem is the availability of a small area of land to start the project.

Even though I am willing to pay rent, it is seemingly impossible to find anyone with available land, particularly in the Guiseley area.

The only land I have been offered so far would mean the pigs weren't free range and animal welfare is not something I feel I can compromise on. I only need a half to one acre.

CW 7/8/10