IN PENN Lane, Middleyard, we have a red bin for dog walkers to leave their bags of dog faeces.

It cost the parish £200 to install it and £75pa to have the contents emptied each week.

About 200 yards away is the Cotswold Way leading up to Penn Woods.

These woods are a delight at present with new leaves and flowers like bluebells and wood anemones.

We are lucky to live here.

However, someone ignores the bin plus the notices and prefers leaves their doggy bag beside the footpath.

Sometimes it is on the bank by the path.

Sometimes it is thrown down the slope into my neighbour’s property.

I find them in my hedge months after they were left but these little parcels have discovered the secret of eternal life.

Worst of all, they are left on the bank where, every July, a commemorative service is held for a local gentleman who was killed on this spot.

I do not know or understand the sort of person who dislikes this environment so much as to defile it in this way, but it is a daily occurrence.

If the dog is walked daily that adds up to 364 bags per year, before adding on those who copy the practice because someone else is getting away with it.

The distance to the bin is about one quarter of the distance I carry my dogs’ droppings to the bins on Selsley Common but it seems to be too much for this person.

Such people can be fined for leaving litter but It is unlikely that this vandal will be caught, so we can only appeal to their sense of decency.

Meanwhile, I pray fervently that there is a special place in hell reserved for the miscreants that choose to litter the countryside in such a foul and filthy fashion.

J Graham

King’s Stanley