A letter arrived from the energy minister Greg Barker to say that guidance was being issued on solar panels which have started to cover Wiltshire fields causing concern among local residents.

I do not mind solar farms in the right places as they can make good use of low-grade land which is visually screened.

It is even sometimes possible for the original agricultural purpose of the land to continue through under-grazing by sheep.

However, I was pleased to hear from the minister that the government’s intention is for industrial and commercial rooftops and previously developed sites to be used first, which is so obviously the right way to proceed.

Although domestic feed-in tariffs which were producing a very generous return for some canny folk who got in on the deal early have had to be moderated, I understand installation costs have reduced so panels on homes are also well worth looking at.

Continuing on a rural theme, I have been receiving complaints from farming constituents about the level of rural crime despite the reduction in crime overall.

It appears much of this is specialist theft to order, with villains travelling long distances to steal vehicles and pieces of kit, some of it for export.

I’ve been in touch with the police over this for a while and they have had success in apprehending culprits using a variety of techniques.

They say in the Army that time spent gathering intelligence is rarely wasted.

With this in mind I went out on Friday night with police and local farmers to spot activity including illegal lamping for hares and foxes.

This operation has been used with success elsewhere in the county, apprehending villains and generally making the lives of criminals more difficult.It relies on self help and from what I saw there was no lack of enthusiasm.

The message is that if you are coming to Wiltshire to engage in nefarious rural activity, you will be nicked.