Where have all the birds gone? | Brief letters

Loss of wildlife | Maternity leave for MPs | Women’s World Cup | Splitting infinitives | Entertainment

Please could Theresa May, now freed of Brexit, include an urgent response to the rapid loss of wildlife (A new language needed for the climate crisis, 17 June) to her action list before she leaves? The Knepp estate wilding project (Report, 21 May) has seen a fast and encouraging reversal of loss of wildlife.
Elaine Steane
Oxford

• I am sitting in my garden enjoying the evening sunshine, a rare occasion this summer, when I realise something is wrong. No birds in the sky. No swallows. No housemartins. No swifts. Where are they? This is quite scary. We are in the middle of June; the skies should be full of birds on the wing. Is this global warming, overhunting or pesticides killing off their food supply? Whatever the reason, I hope it is a temporary glitch and that next year will see their return.
Tina Baker
Chudleigh Knighton, Devon

• If male MPs were the ones having babies there would no doubt be maternity leave (I’m pregnant but denied maternity leave as an MP. Why?, 18 June).
Helen Evans
Ruthin, Denbighshire

• I’m pleased to see extensive coverage of the Fifa Women’s World Cup. In future, should we refer to Men’s Cricket and the Men’s Premier League etc?
Hugh Closs
London

• I was told that the “you must not split an infinitive” injunction in English is a hangover from Latin, in which the infinitive is a single word – for instance, “amare”, “to love” – so cannot be split. This, of course, is irrelevant in English.
Chris Evans
Earby, Lancashire

• How disappointing (Wordsearch, 17 June) that Bingo and Karaoke are forms of entertainment but Pub and Shag are not!
Davina Jones
Durham

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