It was the one fixed point on a vacillating compass of relative morality until, one day, atinybird, the merest wisp of red plumage, tore away my comforting absolute and aligned me squarely with the NRA supporters, Second Amendment defenders and pro-gun crusaders I had reviled.
"This species is barely clinging on in the south of Scotland, so to lose an adult bird from this already tiny population is, in conservation terms, a disaster, " he said.