THANK you for your reference to pheasants being blasted "out of the sky" over Penn Woods, (On the Edge, Midweek, January 1).

I regret I suspect, however, that pheasant and whatever else were shot as easier targets on the ground, not in air.

I find it depressing and disturbing, walking through Penn Street at night to hear the sound of lamping' - killing birds or animals attracted to the light, drawn to the light by disorientation of nervous systems.

Penn Wood seems to be unnaturally quiet most of the time. There is some birdsong and owls hoot, foxes giving out their rough barking, but after noting this for one or two odd nights, there is silence again.

The lamping' is pretty indiscriminate. A few years ago a naturalist resident of Hyde Heath - Trevor Lawson - was shot at night. The shooter was not found guilty and he, the shot victim, wrote round to Chesham & District Natural History Society and others who survey moths, birds, badgers, glow-worms, etc, at night about the dangers.

The Woodlands Trust has a Species Action Plan regarding nightjar, woodlark and dormouse returning as the habitats for feeding and breeding are there.

Sadly I fear this will never happen if returning species are shot.

Jim Whitehead, Belmont Road, Chesham