I AM a regular visitor to Devon to stay with my brother near Lewdown.  I was dismayed when I visited him recently to see the spring banks and verges, normally such a beautiful picture of colour and grace, being cut.

Huge swathes of wild flowers, including orchids, cut down, not only on banks bordering narrow corners but on wide verges posing no threat to anyone's vision.

I have never known this to happen before and am guessing that it may have something to do with a late spring and and an unmovable highway regime? Whatever the reason, in an age of dissappearing countryside and wildlife, is there not a case to be made for leaving the cutting  until the flowers have seeded and are over?

Judy Russell

Hastings