The owl whose “eerie, mysterious” hooting “never fails to enchant” Simon Worrall (What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman review, 29 June) must be a tawny owl – or even a pair of them, since the twit twoo which conventionally represents the sound of an owl is actually the call and answer of a pair of birds. Barn owls, despite their undoubted beauty, are not called screech owls for nothing.
Dr Judith Woolf
Department of English and related literature, University of York
• What a beautiful thing for Joe Pasquale to say that as a young child, when his mum’s depression started, “I decided at that moment that it was my job, until the end of her life, to make her laugh every single day” (Joe Pasquale looks back: ‘In my early days I used to die on my arse a lot’, 1 July). Joe, you’re a hero, I hope you are proud of yourself.
David Cross
Dungannon, County Tyrone
• Whenever my father was asked what music he would like at his funeral his response was always “I don’t want to talk about it”. So that’s what he got – the Rod Stewart version (Letters, 3 July).
Jim Davies
Lancaster
• Is the arrival of boil in the bag send-offs an example of thinking outside the box (‘Boil in the bag’ environmentally friendly funerals arrive in the UK, 2 July)?
Pete Bibby
Sheffield
• Is King Charles the world’s only environmentalist to have his own fly-pasts?
Peter Emerson
Belfast
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