Innholdsfortegnelse for 30-Dec-2015 i Shooting Times & Country

LOOKING BACK ON 2015, there were some blanks but also plenty of red-letter days. Shooting is in fine fettle, with more and more people enjoying the benefits to the community, the economy and the British countryside that it brings. It is frustrating, though, that fieldsports seem destined to remain a political football. The SNP’s cynical U-turn on its pledge not to vote on hunting in England and Wales was disappointing. On the other hand, the election in May of a government sympathetic to the country way of life was cause for celebration. DEFRA minister Elizabeth Truss has continually voiced her support for shooting and the new under-secretary of state, Rory Stewart, is a strong campaigner for farming and the countryside in general. There have also been important victories for, and…

SIR IAN BOTHAM threatened legal action against the RSPB after it allegedly accused him of illegally killing birds of prey. He further revealed that the Advertising Standards Authority had instructed the RSPB to withdraw “misleading” advertising claims, including that 90 per cent of its £128million income went directly to conservation work. Sir Ian claimed that the real figure was closer to 26 per cent. A second report on the possible risks posed by the use of lead ammunition was submitted to DEFRA, and authored by the four organisations that had previously withdrawn from the Lead Ammunition Group (LAG) — the Countryside Alliance, the Gun Trade Association, the National Game Dealers’ Association and the CLA. BASC also helped to prepare the report, which the groups claimed was more logical and scientific…

DEFRArevealed that it was withholding the Lead Ammunition Group (LAG) report pending peer review, following a Freedom of Information request by Shooting Times. DEFRA said that it did not wish to “prejudice the formulation of government policy by prompting uninformed comment and speculation” by releasing the report ahead of the review. Later that month, the LAG was again criticised for its perceived anti-lead bias, following the publication of a letter from group chairman John Swift, summarising the as-yet unpublished LAG report. The letter stated unequivocally that the LAG report would propose a phase-out of lead ammunition and included claims — yet to be peer reviewed — that as many as 10,000 children are at risk of neurodevelopmental harm from eating game meat. Studies by both BASC and the RSPB indicated…

“ Was that the wind, or a dream?” exclaimed Mr Jorrocks, starting out of his sleep at something like thunder overhead… blast went the wind, and in came his window, over went the looking glass, which was dashed to atoms, two five-pound notes were whisked about the room, and the clothes horse came clattering among the jugs. “It’s a confounded wind,” said Mr Jorrocks, running after the five-pound notes, “wonder wot’s the meaning of it all — fear the ’ounds will be werry wild”. This slightly bowdlerised version of the evocative chapter, “The world turned upside down day” from Surtees’ Handley Crosscame forcefully to mind. I stood in a grass field 200 yards behind a semi-circle of Guns as they waited, if not in trepidation then at least in puzzled…

Shawn Trinder (right) comes from a family of keepers, deerstalkers and sport fishermen. It was refreshing to spend time with somebody whose aim was to beat the Guns and who had the freedom to try new things. This shoot has clearly taken a lot of hard work but its great potential is apparent. “I have never run a shoot on what is considered flat ground after working in Devon, so the mix of birds, pen locations and, more importantly, peg placement is vital,” said Shawn. “A lot of work was carried out through the summer that has given us challenging birds which are working hard. My job is to beat the Guns and the shoot can only improve week by week.” Predation from buzzards and the odd goshawk at an…

The rules for the 2016 Young Shot Conservation Awards are as follows: The competition is open to any person who is 21 years of age or under. You do not have to be a member of an organisation to apply. Application forms can be downloaded from the BASC website, http://basc.org.uk/youngshots. Your project can be anywhere in the UK. Your project must be active during 2016, be it a new project or the continuation of something you are already doing. Photos and maps of your project will help the judges understand your project. Help from adults is encouraged to help keep young people safe and support them. But we expect the young person or persons to have a leading role in the project with the adult supporting them, not the other…

There’s more to a woodpile than meets the eye. In the late 19th century, American women in the state of Maine were advised to choose a husband according to the way he stacked his wood. Taken from Lars Mytting’s Norwegian Wood, the following list may be used as a rule of thumb: Upright and solid pile: upright and solid man. Low pile: cautious man, could be shy or weak. Tall pile: big ambitions, but watch out for sagging and collapse. Unusual shape: free-thinking, open spirit, again, the construction may be weak. Flamboyant pile, widely visible: Extroverted, but possibly a bluffer. A lot of wood: a man of foresight, loyal. Not much wood: a life lived from hand to mouth. (To be continued next week…)…

Joe Dimbleby took over as Editor of Shooting Times, the 17th since its initial publication in 1882. Predecessor Alastair Balmain left after 13 years with the magazine. Shotgun certificate grants rose to £79.50 from £50 this month, while the cost of a firearms licence was increased to £88 from £50. Shooting groups, including BASC Scotland and the Scottish Countryside Alliance, hit back at Holyrood after 60 MSPs gave their support to plans to license airguns in Scotland. BASC Scotland director Colin Shedden said that the Scottish Government had failed to give due consideration to crime statistics showing a fall in airgun crime. He also questioned the ability of Police Scotland to handle a new licensing scheme, following cuts to the number of firearms enquiry officers from 34 to just 14.…

The publication of the Scottish Land Reform Bill caused concern for deerstalkers and gameshooters, as proposals to end the exemption on business rates for estates were expected to cause the price of shooting to soar. Many argued that estates would become unprofitable and force keepers and country workers out of business. The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill was passed, despite government figures showing a 73 per cent drop in Scottish airgun crime in recent years. BASC spokesman Alan Balfour described the Scottish Government’s decision as “bitterly disappointing”. MPs feared that the RSPCA would lose its credibility after the appointment of two hardline animal rights activists to its ruling council. Peta Watson-Smith, who once compared farming to the Holocaust, and Dan Lyons, who believes people should pass an exam before…

Brittany Ferries announced it would no longer transport live birds, after the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) released a video claiming that 35million non-native, factory-farmed pheasants and partridges are released on to shooting estates every year in the UK, and that they are kept in cramped conditions that lead to cannibalism. Simon Hart MP, former chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, returned to the organisation as its chairman. This followed the promotion of Tim Bonner to the role of chief executive, following the group’s AGM in September. Countryside organisations warned that the European Commission’s plans to revise the 1991 Firearms Directive, to combat the illegal movement of firearms, could open the door to an attack on shooting. Proposals included the improved sharing of information between EU member states and moves…

“OCCUPIER” MEANING? I believe that Graham Downing is wrong with regard to his meaning of the “occupier” of the land in the piece about borrowing firearms (The borrowers, 18 November). He says that “in practice, there aren’t many shooters who can claim to be occupiers of land”. The Home Office Guide on Firearms Licensing Law, March 2015 is quite clear as to whom the police are advised to consider as “occupiers of the land”, and that is: “The term ‘occupier’ is not defined in the Firearms Acts, nor has a court clarified its meaning. However, the Firearms Consultative Committee in their fifth annual report recommended that the provisions of section 27 of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act be adopted. This states that ‘occupier’ in relation to any land, other…

Alex Hogg is chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and is an experienced keeper on a 7,000-acre estate that puts up pheasants and grouse How do people react in the shooting world when they ask how your day has been and you tell them you have been brashing, or planting trees and shrubs? You can tell from the tone in their voice that they were expecting you to say that you had been attending an exotic conference on hunting animals in dangerous places, or something similar. Nevertheless, I thought I would relate my experiences of tree-brashing over the past 40 years. Some readers may ask: why brash a tree in the first place? When you have crawled on your hands and knees on a pheasant shoot all day long through…

The humble .22 rimfire has been the most prolific and fired round in the world. It is the mainstay of any vermin controller’s arsenal and today there is a great choice from different manufacturers, but most rimfire ammunition is designed for bolt-action rifles. Feed a semi-automatic or repeating rimfire some lower powered or subsonic velocity .22 long rifle (LR), popular for vermin control, and you soon have problems with reliable feeding and operation. Many makers now offer subsonic ammunition specifically designed for semi-auto use, so I decided to look at what’s available and compare it with standard subsonic ammunition. I wanted to test accuracy, velocity, energy down range, penetration differences and functionality. I used a Sako Finnfire bolt action and a Browning SA semi-auto for the accuracy tests. I chose…

GPS-tracking devices are revolutionising our understanding of wildlife. Take what we’ve learned about the fascinating migratory habits of woodcock, for example. The GWCT plans to use similar technology on a more intricate scale, to learn more about the movements and foraging patterns of foxes and how to reduce their impact on waders. This summer, it finally received special Home Office licensing allowing it to catch and GPS-tag foxes in the Avon Valley. The collars, which cost around £2,000 per unit, represent state-of-the-art fox-tracking technology. The collars are programmable, allowing the GWCT to balance GPS-fix schedules against battery life. The GPS data is transmitted via GSM — the mobile phone network — to a central database in Sweden, which the GWCT can log into at any time to see exactly where…

If you frequent country shows and game fairs in the West Country then you will, without doubt, have encountered Dawn Warr. A woman of many interests, Dawn will invariably be sitting at her easel, working on a dog portrait in chalk pastels, surrounded by stuffed specimens of stoats, squirrels, pheasants and jays, supplemented by shoulder mounts of roe and sika. Dawn is both a skilled artist and a taxidermist. She also runs her own shoot and was, in addition, headkeeper on a major Dorset estate. Gamekeeping is in her blood. Her father, Jack, was always a keeper, starting his career at Lord Normanton’s estate at Somerley near Ringwood in Hampshire and where Dawn was born. Then, when she was 18 months old, the family moved to Cornwall, where her father…

THERE’S NO DOUBT that 2015 was a curious year from a sporting viewpoint. In late summer the CLA announced the death of the Game Fair, explaining that the annual sporting extravaganza had become uneconomic, and was now costing more to stage than it produced in revenue. As a veteran of numerous Game Fairs, this announcement didn’t come as a surprise to me. I didn’t enjoy last summer’s Fair, at Harewood House, though it was difficult to say why. One reason was undoubtedly the fact that many old friends whom I used to see every year at the Fair didn’t bother to go. Several have given up going altogether, while others complained that it was a long haul to Yorkshire. There was, I felt, a distinctly lacklustre feel to the Fair,…

In the short, cold days of winter, black-headed gulls show their true resourcefulness. Look out for birds following lapwings to steal hard-won worms, circling over gardens in the search for Christmas leftovers, or swarming in to take food from rubbish tips. The black-headed gulls we see in the winter months are drawn from a wide breeding area; some are of British origin but the majority have crossed the North Sea, with big numbers from breeding colonies around the coasts of the Baltic. A few keen birdwatchers are fascinated by black-headed gulls, reading their rings as they settle around boating ponds or on bridge parapets. They use patience and a good camera to get shots from different angles, revealing the number on the metal band. Many of these winter plumage birds…

Why are we now attributing a name to every low-pressure weather system that sweeps in across the Atlantic during the winter? I am sure there is no scientific reason other than to “sex up” the weather, which many factions of the media are all too happy to promote, because if we’re not frightened they are not doing their job. The Disneyfication of the countryside over the past 100 years has led to a particularly warped view on rural matters in some quarters, and the Disneyfication of the weather is starting to have a similar effect, with questions asked if we do not receive six hours of bright sunshine a day. The aquifers of southern England rely on these weather systems from October to March for their replenishment. With an ever-increasing…

I have just had a fascinating conversation with a man in a pub. No, seriously. It was about campaigning — mainly in the context of fieldsports (this chap shoots) but also in a wider sense, about other causes. I knew the man at the bar was an occasional shooter, but I had never really spoken to him before. We got talking about the customary Boxing Day shoot and we discussed the way that Boxing Day was a big campaigning event for the foxhunting community, though not for the shooting community. Somewhere along the line, I cautiously opined that sometimes the best PR tactic is not to make something into a big deal, especially at a time of year when the media is starved of stories. We all know how hackdom…

Four of the 10 members of the Lead Ammunition Group resigned, citing a “lost confidence” in group chairman John Swift and his perceived anti-lead bias. Sir Barney White-Spunner, then executive chair of the Countryside Alliance, the CLA’s Mark Tufnell, John Batley of the Gun Trade Association and Stephen Crouch of the National Game Dealers’ Association quit following the circulation of a “flawed” draft report by Mr Swift. The GWCT’s Ian Coghill had resigned the previous year, bringing the 10-strong group down to just five members. More than half of MPs taking office following the Conservative Party win at the General Election voiced their support for shooting. A BASC poll of MPs found that 54 per cent were in favour of shooting, while just 1.7 per cent opposed it. A further…

Countryside workers faced the prospect of job losses as up to 70 per cent of grouse shooting days were expected to be cancelled in some regions, according to the Moorland Association(MA). The cancellations came as a result of prolonged extreme weather conditions, which the MA described as “the worst breeding conditions in living memory”. It was announced that the cost of firearms certificates would double in Northern Ireland, as shooting groups reached an agreement with authorities on licensing fees and a banded system for rifles. The price would rise to £98 from £50. Steve Scott (right) secured another Olympic shooting quota place for Team GB, after winning a silver medal at the 2015 Galaba World Cup. Three men were jailed for up to four years after releasing more than 40…

Welcome back, Laurence Catlow (Beating the black dog, 9 December). Your experience, knowledge and skills should not be lost to the world of shooting and fishing. Your honesty and openness in facing your demons, and the courage to talk about them publicly, are just as valuable attributes to share with readers. Country people tend to be physically resilient. Hardbitten shooters don’t get depressed. People who live in beautiful countryside, fish, walk the dogs and have lots of cheery shooting friends can’t possibly suffer depression. Nobody is immune from this debilitating illness — depression can strike across all demographics. What Laurence demonstrated is that with time, support from family and friends, help from professionals, the illness can be overcome. But it was your own inner-strength, Laurence, that secured your recovery. Shooting…

The loader standing by his master, deftly handing him a loaded gun while swiftly reloading the empty one, as the birds pour over in a never-ending stream, is probably the picture that will come to mind when talking of loaders on a shoot day. We have all seen the sepia-tinted photographs of Edwardian shooting days when the aristocracy would shoot huge bags, sometimes using three guns and two loaders, such was the need to maintain a constant rate of fire. But what is the role of the loader in the 21st century? Does he have a role or is he a relic from a bygone age? He most certainly does have a place but it has changed. No longer is he subservient; he is probably a highly experienced Shot in…

Dawn said that she can only draw and paint subjects that she can see, rather than from her imagination. Consequently she tends to work either from photographs or with the subject physically present. She paints all types of animals, not just dogs but, as she admitted, “I don’t do human portraits because most artists tend to flatter the subject, but I’m more likely to put in the odd wrinkle or grey hair. “It all started when I was keepering, and beaters and pickers-up would ask me to paint their dogs. These days I attend country fairs around the West Country, and when I’m there I always work on a painting, usually of a dog. People love to watch me and, at the end of the day, they may return to…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country BRUCE POTTS Shooting Timesrifle reviewer and stalker DAVID TOMLINSON Highly regarded writer and ornithologist LIAM BELL Shropshire gamekeeper and keen wildfowler GRAHAM DOWNING Shooting consultant and sporting author PAUL RAWLINGS Gundog expert and A-panel spaniel judge CHRIS DE CANI Riverkeeper, with specialist knowledge of chalkstreams TONY BUCKWELL Veterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs TONY JACKSON A game Shot, keen stalker and former editor of Shooting Times TOM PAYNE Professional shooting instructor and avid pigeon shooter SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior CIC international trophy judge Contact the team Email: stanswers@timeinc.com By post: Shooting Times, Blue Fin Building,…

Biologists use the term “seasonally fecund” when they talk about dog foxes. This means that the males are only interested, or indeed capable, of mating for a relatively brief time of the year, which in Britain is December, January and February. This period coincides, of course, with the time when the vixen is receptive to the male. A vixen is in season for about three weeks, but fertilisation is only possible during three days. The gestation period is 52 to 53 days, so vixens mated now will be producing their litters in late February. Today, the vixen’s scream is as familiar to town dwellers as to those who live in the countryside. This eerie shriek is an advertising call, and is most often heard during the mating season. Mating always…