PAUL Stammers writes (County Commentary, April 30) that affluent and successful migrants might inject a bit of life into the ailing countryside.

When I was a village lad in the 1940s, there was plenty of life around - blackbirds, bullfinches, blue tits, badgers, bats, beetles, bugs, butterflies, bluebells and buttercups.

There is an old countryman's saying: "If you want to find a mug in the country, you'd better take one with you."

GEORGE COWLEY, Worcester.