• THANK you for reporting on the cygnet that needed to be rescued after swallowing a discarded barbed hook, (Heath cygnet’s volunteer rescue, July 25). This was the second cygnet to have been harmed recently. The first died of sepsis after a dog-bite, it was thought.

It has been wonderful that we have had the privilege to be witness to a record number of cygnets hatching this year, with our last remaining breeding pair of swans, and this has actually made the loss of cygnets all the more poignant.

I definitely support the proposal of more tightly regulated rules on the Heath. It was a barbed hook that could have killed the cygnet. The use of these is prohibited on the Heath, which shows there needs to be more enforcement of rules.

There have been too many preventable injuries and deaths of swans and their young over the years, so something needs to change. Swans are, after all, supposed to be a protected species.

SIAN WHITEHEAD
Sandstone Place, N19