Sir – I was amazed to read the article by Christopher Gray headed A sad sight on a grey autumn day (November 24) in which he associated the decline in song birds with the increase in sparrowhawk populations and quoted a rather one-sided article to back up his argument.

This article led me to look at the RSPB website and I was not surprised to see that there was an informative section (and downloadable leaflet) discussing the connection between raptors, and specifically sparrowhawks, with song birds.

I would suggest that Christopher Gray has a look at this article. To quote part of that article: “An extensive body of research, by the RSPB, BTO, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and many others, on declining farmland songbirds has provided no evidence that predation by sparrowhawks has driven population declines. Songbird numbers are determined by a combination of the abundance and availability of different food resources and availability of suitable breeding habitat.”

I would suggest that Christopher Gray accepts that in wildlife the natural food chain means that some birds and animals become food for others and enjoys the wonderful sight of a beautiful bird visiting his garden.

Patricia Gilbert, Chadlington