Madam, - Your recent report on a machine that can eradicate the biting midge will be welcomed by a great many people whose comfort in the summer has been plagued by these creatures.
However, if it is as effective as it appears to be, perhaps I might sound a warning note in this week which heralds the traditional start of the grouse-shooting season. In this country, the Irish grouse has been reduced to virtual extinction by disturbance and a host of other factors; though across the water in Scotland it is the foundation of a multi-million pound industry that supports a tourist trade of inestimable value to The Highlands.
The major food source for these birds when rearing their chicks is the larvae of the midge, on which they depend. Do not let mankind's predilection for control by destruction put at risk another species, along with a nuisance insect. - Yours, etc.,
MERVYN ARCHDALE,
Carrigans Road,
Omagh,
Co Tyrone.