Sitka planting and biodiversity

Sir, – In her defence of Sitka spruce plantations, Gill McCarthy writes: “Plantations nowadays contain up to 35 per cent other species, mainly native to Ireland, and are alive to all forms of flora and fauna” (Letters, April 25th). I wonder what she means.

If plantations contain “up to 35 per cent” of other species, presumably this includes those containing significantly lower percentages, so the statistic, as presented, is virtually meaningless, apart from indicating that the “other species” present never exceed 35 per cent.

As for the statement that Sitka plantations are “alive to all forms of flora and fauna”, if this extraordinary claim were true, Sitka spruce plantations would surely top the list for biodiversity worldwide.

I suspect that anyone who has walked into a dense plantation of non-native Sitka spruce and observed the striking paucity of flora and fauna there, would find this assertion hard to believe. – Yours, etc,