Sir, – Initially, I thought the report about the filling station owner having to appear before a District Court for tampering with a herring gull’s nest and eggs on the roof of his shop might be from the Irish Times archive of Myles (“Filling station owner removed herring gull’s nest and eggs”, Home News, January 8th). The image that came to mind of a twitcher (bird watcher) peering through his/her binoculars (as the puzzled shop owner tried to solve the case of the melting chocolate bars), then reporting the scene to a park ranger, had all the elements of a scene from Father Ted.
As a nature lover, who would regret the deliberate destruction of the nest of any rare or endangered bird, I am still trying to get my head around what prompted the National Parks and Wildlife Service to pursue what must have been an expensive case through the courts. It might have been more instructive if all the parties involved had organised an egg-and-spoon race along Dublin Street in Balbriggan, the loser to donate suitably cooled chocolate bars to the local children. Food for thought for the future, perhaps? – Yours, etc,