SIR – Simon McCullough (Worcester News, October 22) offers a qualified apology but still implies I’m an arrogant, deluded, religious zealot!

Clearly he cannot entertain the simple idea that conservation might just be dealt with using science and common sense rather than emotive rhetoric.

Referring to culling deer, this was an explanation of how a species can be protected by keeping its numbers in proportion to the food and habitat available.

Deer culled with a bullet to the heart and lung area really know nothing of their fate.

Far better than Mr McCullough’s preferred method of “death by starvation” to keep numbers down. Culling geese protects the habitat they and other wildlife need to survive.

Too many and ponds becomes so polluted and eroded that the area of water is lost.

The pond mentioned was dug a few years ago, previously the land was an arable and livestock farm. The habitat is now arguably improved and needs some protection.

We don’t have a “natural ecosystem” in Britain, it’s a man-made environment, this brings a responsibility to maintain the balance of nature.

Mr McCullough insists firearms were abandoned at Bransford, perhaps he has some evidence to back these worrying allegations?

Jon Burgess

Malvern