28/01/06

The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch is now the world's biggest survey of its kind. Last year more than 10,500 people in the region took part in the survey and we hope that even more will take part this year.

You don't have to be an expert to take part. Simply spend one hour counting the birds in your garden and record the highest number of each bird species seen at any one time.

The morning is the best time to look when the birds are feeding after a cold winter night.

Last year, about 400,000 people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch nationwide and we hope the 2006 survey will be even bigger. The more people taking part, the better our information will be.

For further information on how to get involved visit the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch where an online survey form will be available, or phone 0870 600 7108 (calls charged at national rate).

Alarmingly, since 1979, when the first Big Garden Birdwatch took place, the RSPB has seen the average number of starlings seen in gardens plummet from 15 to less than five and house sparrow numbers halve. Surveys of this kind help us find out what's happening to some our most familiar birds and find solutions.

David Hirst, RSPB Information Officer, North of England Region.

SALAD DAZE

WHEN I was last on holiday in Italy, on the first night of the holiday the four men sitting on the next table to me in the hotel dining room all decided to go and help themselves to some soup as a starter.

When they tasted it they complained to the waiter that the soup was stone cold and tasted of oil.

There was a bit of a language barrier and the Italian waiters could not understand.

All four men said they were never going to have soup again for the rest of the week.

After what they said I was inclined to agree with them. So, even though I nearly always have soup as a starter, this time, without even tasting it, I decided not to have soup again for the rest of the week.

On the last night of the holiday I actually found a member of the hotel staff who could speak fluent English. When I told him about what I had been told of the soup being stone cold and tasting of oil, he then asked me where they got it from. I said it's over there, just before you get to the salad, in a big cauldron with a ladle in it.

This waiter then roared with laughter as he said: "That's not soup, that's salad dressing."

He then said he wondered why they ran out of salad dressing so quickly and had to order some more the following day.

Margaret A Greenhalgh, Darlington.

REVERSE SWING

WHILE watching the Ashes Test series last summer, I was again disappointed to hear the commentators continually give unsure reasons for reverse swing, suggesting it was due to the extra roughness developed, causing the drag to transfer from the rough side to the smooth.

From an engineering point of view, a ridiculous suggestion. Normal swing occurs when a ball is rough on one side, smooth on the other and is bowled seam up and straight at the direction of travel, (or on a slight angle if intending to cut the ball off the surface), especially under humid or overcast conditions when enough friction (drag) can be imparted on the rough side, relative to the negligible drag on the smooth side.

Reverse swing however, occurs due to extra weight applied to the smooth side, due to wetting and cleaning of this side, the force due to weight eccentricity overriding the normal swing. (This override is even greater under blue sky conditions).

The next day, however, when the ball has been allowed to dry a little, either in the umpire's pocket or on a warm windowsill, normal swing can re-manifest itself, especially late August early September when the evaporation of dew is significant.

Peter Hemming, Chartered Mechanical Engineer, Brandon Cricket Club.

DOLPHIN CENTRE

ISN'T it time the admission charge for swimming at Darlington's Dolphin Centre was reduced to match the fourth rate state of the clothes lockers in the changing rooms, both male and female?

Plus the fact one outside shower has not worked for a number of months.

Written complaints to the centre remain unanswered.

JA Telford, Darlington.

ENERGY SUPPLIES

THE New Year, barely into its first month, has seen drama in the news. We have seen the energy crisis in the Ukraine, in what appeared to be political muscle flexed by Russia, and the impact of this crisis on Europe.

While gas supplies in Britain are provided in the main by Norway, the next decade will be crucial.

Some days later there was news of the mining disaster in West Virginia and the deaths of miners, a reminder of the dreadful conditions all miners, including those in Britain's forlorn mining industry, have suffered.

This was an industry which was the backbone of a British economy and energy supply 20 or so years ago, up until its demise. Notwithstanding the gravity of the disaster in the United States, coal is an important commodity to that country's economy.

I am not an energy expert, but, since the closure of the pits, we seem to be less efficient and our energy costs have risen significantly. My argument might be simplistic but I do believe, like many others, that coal mining in this country was cut short by political manipulation.

Coal should have remained central to an energy policy and strategy, alongside other sources of energy. Whether we ever see the emergence of collieries again is open to continuing debate, but what we now have is an energy fiasco. What a legacy.

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe.

ISSUES OVER THE MONARCHY

YET again the BBC is to regale us with the story of Elizabeth I, the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

This is the woman who imprisoned the Queen of Scotland for 19 years keeping her in damp, miserable conditions despite Mary's ill health.

As if this cruel behaviour was not enough, Mary was executed on a trumped up charge of treason.

Mary, as the great granddaughter of Henry VII, was the rightful heir to the English throne but was denied because of her religion.

Is it not unbelievable that, in 2006, a Catholic cannot be King or Queen of the UK. It is not only disgraceful, but the Parliament of the UK should be prosecuted en masse for religious discrimination.

Elizabeth, of course, was jealous of Mary's beauty and the fact that she enchanted all who met her.

Read Antonia Fraser's Mary Queen of Scots and learn the truth, or as near as can be construed, about Elizabeth's paranoid behaviour over Mary and take the latest BBC piece of propaganda with a large pinch of salt.

Hugh Pender, Darlington

TELLING A MOVING STORY

HOW uplifting to read the story about the junior members of the Shildon Countryside Movement raising money to buy a caravan for Charlie Layfield, enabling him to continue his expeditions with them without having to sleep in his car (Echo, Jan 24).

This is the sort of article you like to read on the front page of The Northern Echo with a colour photo to cheer us up.

Congratulations, Mike Gibb, on a lovely photograph, but even more congratulations to the lads (and their parents who have obviously taught them good values) for caring about other people.

Margaret Rees, Thorpe Thewles.

ECHOES OF LOYALTY

IF the size of The Northern Echo is cut in half I will buy it.

E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

I WOULD like to express my delight. So much easier to handle and read.

Jen Dutch, Newton Aycliffe.

IT'S especially great for folks who wear varifocal specs as we no longer need to crane the neck or fold the paper to read it. Brilliant.

Moira Robinson, by e-mail.

IT'S horrible, horrible, horrible.

Judith Westlawn, by e-mail.

THANK-YOU: I have often thought about a smaller size, especially on a windy day in the park with the pages blowing all askew.

Derek Chapman, Darlington.

CONGRATULATIONS: In an ageing population, the paper is much easier to handle. I travel a lot and your revamped paper is ideal. Ever tried to read a broadsheet on a crowded train?

John Turvey, Darlington.

LOVE the new size and love the content.

Gill Hamnett, Northallerton.

AS with so many good things these days, it has been destroyed by the term modernisation. I feel the standard has dropped to that of a free weekly and I have cancelled my delivery.

Peter Dolan, by e-mail.

KEEPING the crossword and puzzles in a separate pull-out gives the family two newspapers. Great.

Mel Rutter, by e-mail.

I MUST applaud you on trying out a smaller format on your Saturday issue.

However, I find the midweek larger editions to be 'readable'. I don't quite know why but there it is.

Whatever the size, please keep the Echo rolling.

Fred M Atkinson, Shincliffe.

MY first reaction is that I don't like this. Over the years, I have got used to knowing where to look for the items that encouraged me to buy the Echo everyday for at least 20 years. On Saturday, I had to search for them.

Jack Robinson, by e-mail.

YOU'VE made me a happy bunny. Twenty years or more ago I wrote to you saying it was too big to open sitting on a coach. At last you've seen sense.

Hazel Lazenby, Bishop Auckland.

I HAVE bought The Northern Echo for the past 40 years, but now it looks like it's going to be changed. I doubt I will continue. I will have to look for another paper.

H Dalby, by e-mail.

TABLOID or compact it's great.

Doug Urquhart, Bishop Auckland.

IT was great to see the new look Saturday Echo, something you can sit and read with ease. No aching arms as with the old one. We all need arms that expand. I have heard people complain for years about the paper being too large.

Keep the small one going. Much better, well done.

N Brigham, Willington.

YOU invited opinions of the new look Northern Echo. I think it is very good. I particularly like the way it is split into sections as those I don't need can be discarded.

I am 80-years old (with arthritis) and it is easier to hold together. In the present form I mainly dislike the often loose page.

R Cowper, Northallerton.

IT TOOK me some time to change over from reading The Telegraph to The Northern Echo. Now I get a lot out of it and really look forward to it coming each morning.

I therefore see no reason why there is a need to change it in any respect, whether it be paper or supplements. I am very satisfied with it all and wish to continue buying it.

I am disappointed with the new format of the Saturday Northern Echo.

CG Farquhar, Durham