Innholdsfortegnelse for July 29, 2015 i Shooting Times & Country

I AM DELIGHTED that the new minister for environment food and rural affairs, Elizabeth Truss, has made time to talk exclusively to Shooting Times and Country Magazine about the challenges affecting fieldsports and the countryside (see p.14). Liz has plenty of praise for shooting and good news for farmers and wildlife. Despite the 40 per cent cuts George Osborne recently demanded across Government departments, she has confirmed the Conservative manifesto promise of £3billion for the Rural Development Scheme over the next five years, plus £900million for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. There are also planned initiatives to improve rural broadband and a welcome commitment to providing better village schools and transport services. Another champion of the countryside, HRH the Prince of Wales, made a personal appeal to potential donors to his…

Seagulls are “endangering society” and need to be culled, said an Irish senator last week. Fianna Fail senator Denis O’Donovan has demanded a cull, following comments from Prime Minister David Cameron that a “big conversation” was needed about the birds, following attacks that have left pets dead (News, 22 July). “I think it is coming to the stage where they are endangering society,” Mr Donovan told the Seanad as he called for a debate. He said the problem was that fish are scarce, and “vicious” seagulls have turned to killing lambs and rabbits and “taking food out of children’s mouths.”…

““Charlie Sheen tried to catch Loch Ness Monster with leg of lamb, says Nessie hunter who says it’s a catfish.” This recent Mirror headline will likely both amuse and inspire adventurous anglers who fancy adding a Nessie-sized catfish to their catch.” ““Tighter controls come into force next summer and those who intend to keep pest control in-house must take action.” Simon Forrester, chief executive of the British Pest Control Association, reminds pest controllers about the impending arrival of new rules regarding poisons and pesticides.”…

All about butterflies May I congratulate you on David Tomlinson’s article (Butterfl y summer, 15 July)? I especially noted the distinction between nectar and food plants, the first for butterflies and the second for their caterpillars. This is not emphasised during programmes on the television or in magazines. It may be due to many gardeners regarding food plants as weeds, for which wild flowers is a euphemism. Most butterflies — or rather, their caterpillars — require specific plants. Some gardeners have been persuaded to allocate “wild patches” in their gardens for wild flowers and so on. Remember — no caterpillars, no butterflies. M. Barnard, Sussex BBC is a public service The BBC has continually failed to comply with its Royal Charter in that it has singularly refused accurately to portray…

Shooting’s beauty is its diversity, and what floats one man’s boat can sometimes leave another’s in dry dock. I have friends who camp out on the foreshore season through and couldn’t care tuppence for driven pheasants. Others are fixated on high birds, some on grouse. And another notable is Simon, who has his head permanently down rabbit warrens and smells of ferret musk. Yet the one bird that “does it” for everyone is the woodpigeon. I can’t think of anyone in the circle who won’t jump at the chance to shoot a few pigeon over decoys given a chance. It’s the one quarry species of the lot that ticks all the boxes. Pheasant shooters might moan if their day fails to meet expectations or bag size. Yet the same people…

Among all the great sporting writers, Jim Corbett has to rank among the best loved and even now, almost 60 years after his death, one of the most widely read. Between the years of 1907 and 1938 he personally accounted for a total of 33 man-eating tigers and leopards that between them had claimed some 1,200 human lives. His tales of how he accomplished this, often with the odds stacked against him and faced by an extremely dangerous and challenging quarry, are just as exciting and fresh today as they have ever been. Edward James Corbett was born in 1875 in Nainital, India. His mother and father, both of whom had been widowed before remarrying, already had seven children between them before adding another nine, including Jim, to a full…

Gundog training must be carried out in order, as follows: 1 BASIC OBEDIENCE, including heel-work, sit/stay, stop whistle and so on; 2 RETRIEVING, including directional hand signals, delivery and stop whistle; 3 WATER WORK, including retrieving, hand signal and stop whistle; 4 HUNTING, including turn signal and stop whistle. This way you gain control over the dog before it contacts game. Don’t bring a puppy to a shoot — it will pick up all the bad habits of running-in, chasing game and generally running around. When the young spaniel has been allowed to chase and retrieve game for a season, it is difficult or impossible to correct it satisfactorily — the dog has developed a habit, which no amount of training can put right.…

Damascus barrels are aesthetically pleasing and technically fascinating, yet not so long ago it was fashionable to scorn them as weak, easily dented and even unsafe. Fashion rather than fact is a fickle thing, and there is now a growing appreciation that they are actually rather desirable and an important part of our rich gunmaking heritage. What they represent, of course, is another age, a lost skill, a vision of artisans labouring over a forge to produce barrel tubes that were the zenith of perfection in their day. I am not alone in thinking that browned Damascus barrels complement fine, darkly veined walnut and colour case-hardened steel much better than any blacked-steel barrel can, no matter how glossily finished. Also steel barrels speak of a mechanised industrial process, while in…

The two main species Bruce stalked were: Gemsbok: a large antelope that is light brown-grey to tan in colour, with a long black tail and white “socks” on its legs. Both sexes have long, straight horns, which can measure up to 33in. The males weigh up to 300kg. Springbok: a medium-sized brown-and-white antelope, that weighs up to 44kg (female) and 48kg (male). Both sexes have horns, featuring a hook-like tip that curves inwards and a series of rings along their length. The springbok is renowned for its speed and agility — it can reach speeds of 60mph and leap 13ft through the air.…

have often thought about running my own shoot. Many years ago I did, in fact, have a small shoot of my own where, with the help of a few friends and paying guests, we enjoyed some great days out in the field. even if the bag at times was barely enough to give us each something to take home. I realised after a few seasons that the effort involved left little spare time for other things, so I let someone else take it on. This left me free to book days shooting as and when I pleased, without the stress. Today this is how thousands of' us get our sport. We follow up ads in the shooting press or let out-fingers do the walking online-we just tap our requirements into…

Gamekeeping Right to stalk? Do sporting leases include the right to shoot or stalk deer? We’ve had a few appear and wondered if we would be within our rights to control them. Name withheld LIAM BELL SAYS: You need to check carefully the wording of the lease. Most leases don’t usually mention controlling deer or stalking; if they are not mentioned specifically, you won’t have the right to do so. There are more deer about now than there were 10 to 15 years ago and they are starting to be seen in areas where they were previously unheard of. If you have some deer on your shoot and no-one is actively managing them, I suggest that you approach your landlord and offer to do so free of charge. He might…

I was walking up six flights of steep stairs the other day, behind an estate agent. I remarked on how his multi-stair-climbing job must keep him extraordinarily fit. At which point he whipped out his mobile phone, like a well-practised gunslinger, to show me the reading of its in-built pedometer. He then proceeded to tell me exactly how many steps he’d taken that day and how many kilometres that equated to. Smartphones are very smart these days, and cluttered with all manner of complicated gizmos, including accelerometers, magnetometers, barometers and proximity sensors. Instead of allowing the mobile simply to be a tool to make overweight huff-puffing estate agents feel good about themselves, a Dutch team of hydrological scientists have come up with a way of marrying the smartphone and fishing…

Gwyn and Ann Evans of Bettws Hall — one of the best-known names in UK gamefarming and shooting circles — won the Sir Bryner Jones Memorial Award, at last week’s Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd. The accolade was presented to them for the exemplary way their business is run and the contribution it makes to the local economy. Their children, Amy and Will (pictured above with their parents), who also work at the Powys-based firm, helped to pick up the award.…

Professor John Moverley (pictured) stepped down as chairman of the Deer Initiative (DI) on 17 July, just five months after he took up the position. The former CEO of the Royal Agricultural Society said that personal family commitments have changed since his appointment and he will now be unable to continue in the role. He said: “I am extremely disappointed that changes in circumstances mean that I cannot at this point commit myself to the necessary time for the DI. “I think it is a very exciting period in the development of the organisation and I will continue to offer my full support in every way possible”…

GOOD TIMES The BBC’s Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones ( right ) raised £145,000 at his annual charity shoot at The Royal Berkshire Shooting School this month. The BBC Radio 4 Today programme will broadcast live from The CLA Game Fair at Harewood House this Saturday. James Naughtie will host the show airing between 7-9am. BAD TIMES The Wild Deer Association of Ireland reported this month that the National Parks and Wildlife Service is refusing deer stalking licences due to low deer numbers in some areas. Speaking at The Royal Welsh Show last week, CLA president Henry Robinson said it is a “travesty” that many rural areas are still lacking adequate broadband connections.…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH Checking off those great game achievements I would like to thank Blue Zulu for his article on his historical quarry list (A wild quarry count to be proud of, 10 June) because it sparked off happy memories. Looking at his wall chart, I can tick most of the boxes, with a few exemptions and explanations. I used my first gun to shoot my starling and other garden birds. It was an old Webley air pistol for which I cut pellets from Meccano rods, as proper lead ones were difficult to obtain in those early post-war times. The only one in the first column of his chart that I’m missing is the Egyptian goose. I had a right-and-left at ptarmigan: they were not difficult; sitting tight and not…

JUNGLE STORIES. Privately published in 1935; only 100 copies printed MAN-EATERS OF KUMAON. Oxford University Press, Bombay 1944 THE MAN-EATING LEOPARD OF RUDRAPRAYAG. Oxford University Press, 1947 MY INDIA. Oxford University Press, 1952 JUNGLE LORE. Oxford University Press, 1953 THE TEMPLE TIGER AND MORE MAN-EATERS OF KUMAON. Oxford University Press, 1954 TREE TOPS. Oxford University Press, 1955 JIM CORBETT’S INDIA. An anthology selected by R.E. Hawkins, Corbett’s publisher and editor. Oxford University Press, 1978 MY KUMAON: Uncollected Writings. Previously unpublished work and personal material. Oxford University Press, 2012 Later this year, gunmaker John Rigby & Co, together with Safari Press, will be producing a leather-bound, five-book set of Corbett’s writings, with a new foreword. Only 100 will be made and…

In association with Blaser and Consistency is accuracy Meet the instructor Brad’s background as a professional stalker, both for private estates and for Forestry Commission Scotland, and his training as a sniper in the Marines, has given him the knowledge, experience and skills to take us through these first steps of achieving accurate, consistent results from your rifle, whether you have been stalking for decades or are interested in taking it up for the first time. Having learned how to set up your scope correctly (see Setting up for success, 15 April) it’s vital to check that your rifle is zeroed regularly. If you are an occasional stalker, you should check zero before every outing; for frequent users, every other week is probably the rule of thumb. Of course, if…

Abird’s-eye view of the glorious British countryside, not to mention all the potential for nosing into people’s back gardens, would all be far too much of a distraction if I were a thatcher — I’d never get any work done. Not so, though, for Chris Coles, who has been a thatcher for the past 30 years in the Vale of Pewsey, in Wiltshire. “I left school, aged 15, on the Thursday and started work on the Monday,” he said. “My father told me that I wouldn’t be staying at home all summer, which was my initial intention, but that I’d be starting work as a thatcher straight away. I was offered jobs as a mechanic and a cobbler, but my uncle, also a Coles, didn’t have any children, so I…

I am not a great one for conspiracy theories, but every now and then you come across an omission that is repeated so often and so consistently that it can only be a result of an attempt to deceive, whether conscious or unconscious. One such involves the life of Sir Peter Scott who, among other things, was author of two of the finest books on wildfowling ever written and an obsessive punt-gunner and pursuer of geese. He was, of course, also a renowned painter of wildfowl, drawing on his experiences hunting duck and geese, and went on to record an extraordinarily eclectic series of achievements, most notably as a founding father of the conservation movement both in the UK and worldwide. In Morning Flight , his first book, he describes…

Before bird species were given Latin names they were known by their “folk names”. For instance, the Scots called the puffin an “ailsa parrot”, the Welsh called the blackbird a “merwys” and Northumbrians called the chaffinch an “apple-shealer” (presumably because the bird was often found among the bud of fruit trees). In H. Kirke Swann’s Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of British Birds, first published in 1913, some of the more intriguing folk names include: Greedy glead — kite Mavis — song thrush Jetcock — jack snipe Peep o’day — little grebe Links goose — common shelduck Row-dow or roo-doo — house sparrow…

My article on dogs and snakes (Close encounters of a venomous kind, 3 June), generated some lively correspondence, including a fascinating letter from Bill Russell, who, at the age of 89 must be one of Shooting Times’s older readers. “During my service with the Royal Indian Air Force on the North West Frontier, I met up with an old India hand during a duck-shooting weekend,” Bill writes. “He told me that should you kill a cobra, its mate will come back to the place of the killing and if you happen to be there you’d better watch out. “Years later found me in colonial service in northern Nigeria. One evening I was sitting on the thunder box in the bayan gida (outside toilet hut) when I became aware of a…

Wild geese are well known for forming “crèches” during the breeding season. Adult pairs and their respective goslings join together to form a large mixed-aged, mixed-family, gaggle. A benefit of this communal parenting is improved vigilance and defence against predators. Usually, a crèche consists of only one species of goose, though I’ve seen several crèches, made up of greylag, Canada and even Egyptian geese. Earlier this summer, I was fascinated to watch a gaggle of Canada geese defend their vulnerable downy goslings against a marauding feral cat. I was sitting on a steep bank that overlooked two rough-grass pastures that were being grazed by cattle. The pastures were home to 12 pairs of lapwings, many of which had unfledged chicks hiding in the grass and in dirt-divots made by heavy…

The Kennel Club has hit back at recent claims that a quarter of dogs at Crufts are too fat. Researchers at Liverpool University suggested this month that one in four canines entered into the prestigious annual competition were overweight. But there was outrage when it emerged that the study was far from scientifically rigorous as one author was revealed to have simply taken images from the Internet to decide if the dogs were overweight. The Kennel Club warned pictures could be misleading and complained that some used in the study had been a decade old. They urged for a new study to be undertaken.…

Reconnaissance, fieldcraft, and even the contents of pigeon shooting expert Will Garfit’s bag were all revealed to 23 avid pigeon shooters on 16 July at Long Acres Shooting School in Cambridge as part of our Shooting UK Events series. Will and coaches Sam Grice and Angie Watts guided participants through tricky targets on a 100-clay pigeon shooting layout. Event attendee David Summerland said it was “the best investment I have made in pigeon shooting in 27 years”.…

BASC signed the UK Squirrel Accord earlier this month. The initiative of more than 30 organisations, including the RSPB, DEFRA and the National Trust, aims to secure and expand the UK red squirrel population. The shooting organisation will help the initiative by setting up clubs of BASC members to control invasive grey squirrels, which have had a huge negative impact on the native reds. BASC hopes to limit the damage caused by the greys to trees by activities such as bark stripping. Such damage is estimated to cost the UK forested estate more than £14million per year. Tim Russell, BASC director for conservation, said: “We are delighted to sign the UK Squirrel Accord because its aims mirror our own. BASC and our members are extremely active across the UK in…

NEWS IN THE US Peregrine falcons are no longer a threatened species in Illinois, announced the Chicago Peregrine Program earlier this month. A conservation effort led by the city’s Field Museum has helped to restore numbers in the state. In 1951 there were no peregrine falcons in Illinois, but there are now 29 nesting territories, holding at least one bird. New air rifle centre for Somerset? SOMERSET: Wraxall resident Rob Collins is looking to set up a new air rifle centre in Somerset. Rob, who hosts sports sessions to let children experience activities including air rifle shooting, fishing and archery, wants to show youngsters how to use air rifles and BB guns safely. He told the North Somerset Times: “For the past year I’ve been trying to find the right…

A small shoot such as this really depends on its gundogs, and it was nice to see a couple of the less popular breeds working hard to find and flush game. Sarah Winter (Andy’s wife) is responsible for making sure all the birds are picked-up at the end of each drive. She has a couple of golden retrievers — one is fox red, which is the more common colour in working-bred goldies, and she also has a very pale show-bred dog called Casper, which she has trained to a high level and was extremely impressive in the tangle of brambles and elder roots. Another interesting little dog was a visiting Clumber spaniel, which thoroughly enjoyed itself in the wet and muddy conditions and proved to be a real asset bustling…

If I am asked “When is the right time to start my young spaniel on game?” my answer is always: when your dog is almost fully trained on dummies and is stopping 100 per cent of the time to the stop whistle. Stopping to the whistle “most of the time” is just not good enough. The stop whistle is the kingpin of any gundog training, and until this is mastered properly, it is impossible to go beyond the basics. When your dog is retrieving dummies reliably, taking directional hand signals, turning consistently to the “turn” command and, most importantly, stopping and sitting to the stop whistle, your dog is now ready for the real thing. This is the point at which many novice trainers slip up badly. By being too…

The machinery in Michael’s yard dates back 70 years. “This Massey Harris threshing machine dates back to between the wars,” he said. “It has a reed comber on the top and a straw trusser on the side to produce combed wheat reed. You cut the strings on the sheaves and feed it in nice and flat so that it comes out of the machine laid the same way, neat and ready to go on the roof. “The Marshal machine is a lot newer and was built in 1948. It went up to London during the Olympics, which is why it’s painted silver, and it produces the long straw. You push the straw in as tidily as you can, it goes down into the threshing drum, which removes the heads of…

DO Take professional advice before buying a property — this is vital. Consider whether the house you want to buy is one that you would want to live in eventually. A house you want to live in and a pure investment property are often not one and the same. Think about location. You can always make structural changes to a house but you can’t change the location, and the closer it is to your work-related accommodation the easier it is to keep an eye on. Speak to a professional about the issue of Capital Gains Tax and, for that matter, all other tax-related issues. Do your homework: contact some property letting agents about the benefits and pitfalls of owning a property. Remember: a house of your own is not only…

In Pursuit of Butterflies: A Fifty-year Affair by Matthew Oates For 50 years naturalist, poet and broadcaster Matthew Oates has been devoted to the butterflies of the British Isles, studying them, writing about them and arguing for their conservation at every opportunity. He describes this book as an “open memoir”. Mixing humour, obsession, expertise and anecdote, it charts his love affair with one of the most fascinating creatures of the natural world. £18.99 (hardback) 978-1472924506 www.bloomsbury.com/uk A Year on the Moor by Tarquin Millington-Drake Due to be released next week (3 August), A Year on the Moor takes a season-by-season approach to life on and around a grouse moor. Using stunning full colour photography, this coffee-table tome showcases the beauty of an ever-changing landscape and the people whose livelihoods depend…

BLANKETED BY BRACKEN: By late July many woods, moors and heaths are totally blanketed by bracken, the plants out-competing almost everything around them, with the fronds reaching anything up to 8ft in height. Bracken was once valued for its use as animal bedding and was also employed in tanning, along with soap and glass manufacture. Today, few people can find a good word to say about it, and considerable efforts are made — often unsuccessfully — to control its advance. It is native to the British Isles and has been growing here for millions of years, for it is a very primitive plant. Remarkably, it flourishes on every continent except Antarctica, and is just as happy in the tropics as it is in our temperate climate. It is toxic to…

ASK THE VET Tick removal My dog picks up ticks at this time of year. How should I remove them? J. Livingstone, by email TONY BUCKWELL SAYS: The problem with ticks is that they can transmit Lyme disease, a cause of acute, often recurrent infectious arthritis. People can also be affected. When removing a tick it is extremely important not to squeeze it, otherwise it will regurgitate blood and increase the risk of infection. There are two excellent devices available. One “lassoes” the head of the tick, so it’s grasped below the body before being safely removed. The other, a special pair of tweezers, is shaped to grip only the head of the tick, not the blood-filled body. If you live where ticks are common, the longer lasting Spot On…

So, it’s time for The CLA Game Fair again. Truly the world spins ever faster. I must be getting old. But in an age of change, some things never change — including folk complaining about the cost of game fair tickets. Yes, tickets are expensive — but then, what are we comparing them with? Single adult entrance to Harewood House costs less than a single driven pheasant. And nobody is forcing you to go, are they? I mean, it’s not like the subsidy we have to pay the Scots under the Barnett Formula (an average of £1,600 per year extra public spending per person in Nicola Sturgeon’s land of enterprise, where only a tiny fraction of the population pay more in taxes than they scoop out of the public purse).…