Sir, – Looking at the striking photo of a redshank taken by an Askrigg reader (D&S, June 27) brought back many memories of bird life.

Leaving school during the war in the upper dales, farming was the main available occupation. Sheep and dried-off cattle were walked via the old Roman road above Bainbridge to the high pastures above Lake Semerwater for the summer. During the walk you were often bombarded by the circling peewits crying out protecting their nests and in the distance you got the haunting cry of the curlew. Sadly walking a stretch of the same route was completely bereft of any bird life, no doubt due to modern farming methods.

DOUGLAS PUNCHARD Pottergate, Hemsley.