xml parser : parser foundCharacters error

I am parsing some rss feeds from a site and when my code reaches the method of parser foundCharacters the application closes with an exc_bad_access error. The strange thing is that when i run my app in the simulator the app runs with no problem. This is my parse code :

#pragma mark NSXMLParser delegate

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName {

if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"item"]) {

    [item setObject:title forKey:@"title"];
    [item setObject:link forKey:@"link"];

    [feeds addObject:[item copy]];

}

}

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict {

element = elementName;

if ([element isEqualToString:@"item"]) {

    item    = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
    title   = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
    link    = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];

}

}


- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)strings {

if ([element isEqualToString:@"title"]) {
    [title appendString:strings];
} else if ([element isEqualToString:@"link"]) {
    [link appendString:strings];
}

}

- (void)parserDidEndDocument:(NSXMLParser *)parser {

[self.tableView reloadData];
}

My error is showing up when it reaches the first line of :

if ([element isEqualToString:@"title"]) {
    [title appendString:strings];
} else if ([element isEqualToString:@"link"]) {
    [link appendString:strings];
}

When i try to change those lines with for example :

[title appendString:strings];

it runs perfectly with the main difference that i get no link to enter the rss feed. In other words the problem seems to be when checking if element is equal to string @"title". Thank you.