The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Dear Mr Dawe,

Speaking as a member of the South Lincolnshire RSPB Group, the RSPB, the World Owl Trust and Lincolnshire Bird Club (and soon to be a member of the British Trust for Ornithology), I am writing to register my total and complete opposition to the construction of the Wash Barrier.

On your website, it says "The Wash is very difficult to access for leisure. The large tidal range, treacherous currents and high levels of silting mean that access is limited". Are you saying that every stretch of water round the UK should be given over to leisure, without a hint of thought to internationally-recognised levels of biodiversity? The Wash is easy to access for leisure, with three RSPB reserves at Freiston Shore, Frampton Marsh and Snettisham doing their bit.

The Sahara Desert is very difficult to access for leisure - how about going in there with big bulldozers and flattening the dunes and disturbing populations of sandgrouse so you can run riot with kitesurfing? You have to accept that not everyone views a stretch of water as a potential money-making exercise. People such as myself go to these RSPB reserves to enjoy nature, learn about it and to get some exercise.

The Barrier will provide a world-class area of sea for multiple leisure use, sailing, boating, rowing, fishing, swimming and diving, all protected from the fierce North Sea.

I can only imagine that the said sailing, boating, fishing and swimming activity will disturb the wildlife even more. The 2,000,000-plus strong membership of the RSPB, the enormous popularity of the BBC's 'Springwatch', 'Autumnwatch' and 'Big Cat Diary' programmes, along with the success of every David Attenborough documentary series go a long way to proving that we are a nation of nature-lovers, not sailors.

Managed realignment of the coastline is a far better, cheaper way of doing this. Most importantly, it respects the biodiversity of the region using only natural materials, which I think will be greatly and un-necessarily compromised by this project. There are far better ways of generating green energy, and I shudder to think how un-green and heavily carbon-footprinted the construction methodology will be. By far a NIMBY, I am also against the proposed barrier across the Severn.

It is my opinion, sir, that you are motivated by, and have been irretrievably seduced by the Pound sign in front of your eyes, the mentality that it takes a big project to generate alternative energy (it doesn't) and your opinion towards wildlife conservation needs to change. You build this barrier, you ruin my hobby (and the hobby of many millions of others)of birdwatching and cause chaos to the beauty and biodiversity of the place I am proud to call my 'local patch'. Your building this (if the MPs and councils involved are stupid enough to permit this) will not be in my name.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Katherine Birkett of Boston.

Katherine. You were gentle and polite
Brian.