AT this time of year, a rash of notices appear throughout the Forest, advising or instructing owners to keep their dogs on leads and on the footpaths to prevent them from disturbing ground nesting birds.

I am not a dog owner, but each time I see these nannyish notices I wonder if it is the same people who like to bar conker and snowball fights, tree climbing and all the other pettifogging interferences with our freedom of choice. They need the flimsiest of excuses to attempt to foist their views on the rest of us.

Consider the said ground nesting birds. It is a remarkably silly strategy for survival, and species stuck with this mode of reproduction are inevitably doomed to eventual extinction, along with the 98 per cent of all species that have lived before us, and got it wrong.

I am no expert, but by observation I would suggest that foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats, rabbits, rats, squirrels, ponies, cattle, deer and mountain bikes would pose as much of a threat as the odd dog, and, of course, magpies and the rest of the crow family, probably pose a greater threat than anything else put together.

The great majority of dogs I see in the Forest are already on leads and most of the remainder appear too old or fat to do much damage. However, I did see a Jack Russell chase a foal last year. It got kicked of course, quite a shock.

B EDGAR VAN SHAW, Bartley.