Conservation conversation

I read your report on the dawn raid by police and wildlife organisations on the Glenlochy Moor Estate (your report, 22 March), with disbelief.

Last week, I was present at a talk given by a former warden of the Isle of May in the Forth Estuary. He mentioned how, in the mid-1990s, thousands of herring gulls were poisoned by the wildlife groups in charge there in order to encourage the small population of terns to expand.

Scottish landowners are vilified for their efforts to manage the wildlife on their land, yet those very organisations who purport to protect birdlife seem to think that they are allowed to "manage" populations. Surely this is a glaring example of double standards.

Do the bird lovers who add to the coffers of these organisations realise just what their favoured societies get up to? Hypocrisy comes to mind.

DAVID HOWSON, Broomley, Bridge of Dun, Montrose