Letter: Action needed to help preserve urban wildlife before it's too late
I have been an allotment holder for many decades, and can confidently say our local species of wildlife which we once had in abundance, seems to be extinct to our area.
Not long ago, we used to wake to a beautiful dawn chorus, now at the break of day there is deathly silence. In the garden we have a bumper crop of sunflower, teasel and various other ripe seeds that are being completely untouched.
Hedgehogs could once be found plentiful in the allotment grounds, nowadays not a solitary one. The reason, I believe is that weed killers are still being used, slug-pellets scattered in abundance and insecticides are destroying wildlife's food source.
And now, to top it all, we are overrun with cats competing against each other for the best catch, I like cats, but they should have the same restrictions as dogs.
If nothing is going to be done about these problems, I predict that in a decade or so from now, children will never experience the joys of holding a hedgehog or seeing a mouse scurry across the garden, or watch a blackbird or robin forage by their feet whilst they are digging.
To try help solve this problem, every allotment or spare rough ground could set aside a sizeable plot to erect a large zoo-like breeding cage, with winter shelter and nesting facilities. They should be predator-proof with small mesh to allow for small creatures and furnished with shrub and wild seed plants.
Money to finance these important projects should be of no object when you see what large amounts of cash have been squandered on unsightly projects.
Everything detrimental to our wildlife should be outlawed, with heavy fines for abusers, and hopefully one day we may release the wildlife back to its natural habitat, and our dawn chorus might return.
Finally, concerning the loss of river species, the last kingfishers have now vacated the riverbanks and resorted to local ponds for survival. I suggest you pay a visit to our area of Castlefields and visit the weir after a heavy rainfall and see the mounds of suds that are churned up, and 'foam' your own conclusion.
Brian Travis, Shrewsbury
