Dear Editor

At a time when emphasis is given to preserving green spaces, dwindling bird species, bees and hedgehogs, Herefordshire Council and some builders appear to be blind and deaf what loss there is to animal inhabitants and people’s feelings.

In haste, a builder recently bulldozed 100 year’s growth and 35 years of shrubs, wild roses, blackberry vines, lilac trees and a 20ft hawthorn tree, comprising of a 90ft swathe. This is small compared to other developments and clearances in the Ross-on-Wye area.

Herefordshire Council and developers should take care as to how they treat people. In the meantime, I have less than half the birds from last summer, no hedgehogs, no woodland mice, and it has taken over a year to get visiting bees from replanting. A small population of crickets have returned. The once a week visit from a sparrow hawk who rested in the plum tree - who knows where she is now?

Winter McDonnell

Mount Pleasant