THERE have been several letters commenting on the decline of garden birds.

As a keen birdwatcher, I can vouch for this having noticed over the last ten years or more, once-common species such as the house sparrow, blue tit and song thrush becoming far less common.

This decline may have several causes, not least of which are habitat loss and imported predators such as cats. It is very unlikely that natural predators such as sparrowhawks or even magpies could make much difference as their own numbers depend on sufficient prey-species being available.

If the food source is not there, those species at the top of the food-chain produce fewer young or none at all.

So please let's not hear about taking sparrowhawks off the protected list. This would most probably only lead to the situation we had in the 1960s where a fine bird is reduced almost to extinction and others such as the kestrel, due to mistaken identity, could be shot out of the sky although they are entirely beneficial, being catchers and eaters of rodents.

John Bardet,

Rutland Close,

Copmanthorpe,York.

Updated: 10:22 Wednesday, March 22, 2006