I AM replying to last week's letter from Judy Kershaw of Bream regarding the roaming sheep and their owners.

She says that grazing sheep keep down the grass and this encourages wildflowers to grow and set seed. The exact opposite is true. If anyone wishes to encourage more wildflowers, the first rule is to exclude all grazing animals, especially sheep. They have sharp front teeth which can cut off grass (and wildflowers) at ground level. This often means that the plant cannot flower or produce seed for next year. Wildflower areas are usually mechanically mown at the end of summer, after the seed has fallen. They are mown, not grazed, since wildflowers generally prefer soils not enhanced by manure left by grazing animals.

Many of us remember the year of the foot and mouth outbreak when sheep were absent from the Forest. By common consent that year was the best for wildflowers ever seen. It was magnificent.

Ms Kershaw says that sheep keep open footpaths through the Forest. I have never seen any evidence of this. I do see that most of the footpaths I have walked all my long life are now clogged by ferns, which sheep do not eat. The demise of the Forest paths has occurred because of social changes in human lives. Adults no longer use them to go to and from their work each day. Families no longer use them to visit friends or relatives in the next village and children no longer use them as a play area. The motor car and fear for our children have all but ended these activities. The Forest paths will continue to decline, irrespective of sheep.

With regards to Ms Kershaw's comment about roaming sheep in Bream. She says "a minority of people in Bream are hell-bent on removing the local flock by constantly making spurious complaints to the authorities, based on some long-held personal hostility against sheep and their owners." I wonder how she knows that only a minority of Bream residents are hostile to the sheep and their owners. It may be the view of the majority. The only poll I know about is the one held just before the re-introduction of the sheep, after the foot and mouth outbreak. A substantial majority wanted no sheep at all or strict rules to keep sheep out of communities. Unfortunately the 2001 sheep agreement was voluntary and so was completely disregarded in some areas, including Bream.

Complaints against sheep-owners in Bream are not 'spurious' and will continue for as long as the anti-social behaviour continues. This is right and proper. No-one should try to justify such bad behaviour, especially since it still continues despite the police arrests, court appearances, fines and court orders.

Obey the court orders and maybe then we can "all get on with our lives in peace...and read about something other than sheep in the local papers." – Paul Brain, Bream.