Brought to tears by the birds’ beautiful warning | Letters

An avian alert | Serge Gainsbourg's best song | Longer John Silver | Voter ID | Woke Windsor

Mark Cocker's eloquent article (Look up, listen, and be very concerned. Birds are vanishing - and their crisis is our crisis, 17 April) should be required reading for Therese Coffey, the environment secretary, and for all those working for Defra, and all farmers and landowners in this country. It brought me to tears.
Helen Owen
Ludlow, Shropshire

How could Alexis Petridis (Serge Gainsbourg's 20 greatest recordings - ranked!, 13 April) have ignored Gainsbourg's beautiful, clever tribute to Prevert's Les Feuilles Mortes in his song La Chanson de Prevert? To my mind, his true poetic gift and his ability to parody and to rhyme are at their peak in this song, written in the 60s.
Jennifer Symien
Bedford