I was touched and very humbled by the heart-warming letter from Dominic Franklin about the forlorn future my family faces with the redevelopment of the West Pier, Brighton (Opinion, March 14).

We Starlings have few enough friends among the human race. We are accused of being greedy, noisy and quarrelsome. Furthermore, we are said to be a menace to any one we flock above.

This last is a foul calumny - after all, nature's call must be answered and I am sure there are times and situations when you would like to be in our place.

My mum used to tell me that Great-great-grandad Starling loved Saturday nights at the Theatre Royal. Such great crowds and plenty of nice, shiny cars and people in their best clothes - and marvellous accommodation, too, just across the road in the Pavilion grounds. Ah, happy days!

But Dominic need have no fear. My family is a resourceful multitude, unlike those feeble-minded pigeons, and my brother Fred has already visited the new station roof on reconnaissance.

A little assistance from Brighton and Hove City Council would not go amiss, however. After all, what is sauce for the peregrine falcon is sauce for the dispossessed starling.

-A Starling, Brighton (aka B F Osborne)