MRS P Stephenson asks (Nature Watch, LET, May 12) if there is an explanation for the lack of starlings she has noticed in Burnley.

The dramatic drop in the population of starlings has occurred throughout the UK and is causing considerable concern. Over the past 20 years the number of resident starlings in the UK has dropped by more than 40 per cent - a loss of more than a million birds.

The winter migrants which come to the UK were estimated at 30,000,000 but their numbers too have dropped by roughly the same percentage.

This loss of what was an incredibly successful opportunist species is a very worrying environmental change and, as yet, no-one is sure of the cause nor of what effect in the long-term this may have on the environment as a whole. Current scientific opinion is that it could be the result of intensive farming with the excessive use of pesticides and herbicides, together with autumn sowing of crops, reducing the food available for birds, especially in the winter.

A large reduction in the winter survival rate of the fledglings of starlings (and a number of other species) has been noted. But at the moment no-one is sure of the reason.

Ron Freethy added a footnote to Mrs Stephenson's letter, saying that starlings were away breeding at the moment and there is nothing to worry about. He really could not be more wrong.

DAN CROWLEY, Columbia Way, Lammack, Blackburn.

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