What Tim Scott saw in Battersea Park’s lake (Letters, 9 July) was probably not a pond turtle but an American terrapin, once someone’s pet that grew too big. They are a nuisance, feeding on frogs, tadpoles and small fish. The terrapins in the lake of my local park (Alexandra Park) are yellow-bellied sliders from Florida.
Copland Smith
Manchester
• Adrian Chiles (Picnic season is here - and I hate it, 13 July) can end his picnic traumas by utilising an invention deployed for several decades in many beauty spots. It is often sustainable, quite comfortable, above ground level (avoids sandwich-snatches by dogs) and can be slept on with a little care: the picnic table.
Jonathan Hauxwell
Crosshills, North Yorkshire
• I nearly always comb my long hair in the garden after washing it, as an inordinate amount comes out every time. We once found a little nest carefully lined with my hair wound round and round the inside. Hopefully this is less dangerous to birds than washing machine fluff seems to be (Letters, 12 July).
Fiona Collins
Carrog, Sir Ddinbych
• Re the pink door resident facing new complaints over the “off-white” repaint (Report, 11 July), never mind the doors, what about all the gaudy cars littering the streets of Edinburgh’s New Town?
John Warburton
Edinburgh
• In morning assembly, I used to be confused by the religious objections to board games, with “forgive us our chess pieces” (Letters, 11 July).
Sandy Guthrie
Amberley, West Sussex
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