Wild swimming “the latest fashionable activity” (Letters, 26 July)? Forty-five years ago we spent innumerable happy afternoons with our children swimming and splashing in the River Cherwell at Wolvercote – and there were other popular river bathing places in Oxford. Last week I took my granddaughter swimming in the River Chew. Wild swimming is certainly not a new fashion, though it has become riskier with the current levels of pollution in our rivers and lakes (not very beneficial for kingfishers, either). Their owners don’t swim, but the wildlife disappears – so don’t blame the swimmers for disturbing wildlife.

Source: The Guardian July 30, 2021 15:45 UTC