Innholdsfortegnelse for August 26, 2015 i Shooting Times & Country

WE WERE INCREDIBLY lucky with weather and grouse last week as our annual boys’ shooting break took us to Rannoch Moor in Perth and Kinloss. A few weeks ago I received an email from our host with the subject line “no grouse”, but he kindly suggested we could come up anyway to see if there were a couple of old cock birds to be harvested. On the first day, we set off in bright sunshine on what we thought would be an armed walk to check what remained on the ground after a terrible spring had decimated this year’s broods. We were amazed as the three extraordinarily skilled German shorthaired pointers put up covey after covey; in all we saw 112 birds over the two days. Of the 14 brace…

Will and Calum Thompson of Cirencester restaurant Eat Wild are giving the Gloucestershire town’s homeless a chance to try game dishes like roebuck pie and venison burger. The “Pay it Forward” scheme, which follows the success of the brothers’ Big Christmas Feast last December (pictured), gives restaurant customers the chance to pay for a meal in advance to be given to the homeless, and receive a10 per cent discount from their own meal as thanks.…

NEWS IN ITALY A 77-year-old Sicilian man was killed by wild boar in the Cefalù countryside earlier this month, while trying to save his dogs. Salvatore Rinaudo was with his wife and dogs when the boar attacked. Salvatore died at the scene, while his wife Rosa, 73, received multiple injuries. She said: “My husband put himself in the middle to save the dogs. At this point the boar jumped on top of him.” AA Shooting School opens at Ram’s Hill DORSET: A new clayshooting centre has opened in Dorset. AA Shooting School, at Ram’s Hill, Sturminster Newton, is run by instructor Norman Fuller, who has developed his own style of tuition using hand-to-eye co-ordination and “getting away” from the “confusion” surrounding lead pictures. The school has a wide range of…

As the year progresses from spring to summer, the vegetation gets ever higher. Here, in the hills of mid-Devon, we’re lucky to have such a wide variety of farming going on that we simply shift our focus away from the arable areas when the plants get too tall. That doesn’t stop us keeping a close eye on the crops, though, for like most shooters in this country, we can’t wait to hear the combine at work. It’s important to remember that it’s not just cereals that are harvested — certainly in this part of the world, getting the silage in is a major part of the agricultural year, as is cutting the maize later on. When the weather is right, the contractors seem to work all day and all night.…

New Forest Clothing padded wax jacket This family-run business has just launched its own-brand wax jacket, which provides warmth without bulk. This traditional jacket is 100 per cent waterproof and windproof and will stand up to brambles and barbed wire — perfect for beaters. £34.95 01725 510051 www.newforestclothing.co.uk JP Countryman trousers Made from cotton canvas and 600D waterproof Oxford CORDURA®, these trousers have plenty of pockets and adjustable ankle fastenings. £49.99 www.bushwear.co.uk Musto waterproof fleece-lined cap This cap has fold-down flaps that cover the ears and neck, should you need protection on very cold days. The adjustable drawstring prevents the hat from being blown away in high winds, too. £24.99 www.musto.com Nikwax TX.Direct® Tech Wash® and Wash-In Waterproof garments can lose their water repelling properties, so products such as these…

Since the introduction of the centrefire cartridge in the 1860s, shotguns have been built on a bewildering variety of actions. One type that is common in military rifles, but which you rarely see as the basis for a shotgun, is the Remington rolling block. This had its genesis during the American Civil War (1861-1865) when a designer called Leonard Geiger developed a cavalry carbine whose breechblock hinged around a central pivot and whose hammer was mounted on a substantial arc-shaped base, which engaged with the underside of the block to lock it as the hammer fell. The locking mechanism did not allow the hammer to fall when the block was open. Geiger’s original patent was refined by a man called Joseph Rider in 1864 and both patents were assigned to…

ASK THE VET TONY BUCKWELL is a retired veterinary surgeon, who now acts as an advisor on animal welfare, breeding and husbandry. If you are concerned about your dog’s health, always seek veterinary advice. What is a titre test? How reliable are titre tests, which I understand mean my dog won’t have to have an annual vaccination? K. Gladstone, by email TONY BUCKWELL SAYS: This is a blood test to estimate the number of antibodies produced as part of your dog’s immune system. What’s known as a “protective antibody titre” has been estimated for each of the diseases covered by vaccination. If the amount of antibody in your dog’s blood equals or exceeds this figure, vaccination is unlikely to be of benefit. Despite being vaccinated and/or having a protective antibody…

BASC has welcomed recently published research commissioned by Natural England that shows woodlands managed for shooting can provide the right conditions to help butterflies survive the worst of the summer heat. BASC chairman Alan Jarrett said: “[Shooting] creates and manages habitats that benefit a huge range of species — from insects through to large birds and mammals. We owe the existence of many of our lowland woodlands to our history of game management.”…

The England Olympic trap shooting team triumphed in their Home International at Courtlough Shooting Ground, near Balbriggan in Co. Dublin, Ireland, earlier this month. Rod Gould emerged as the team star, shooting 142 out of 150 to win overall High Gun, but there were accolades all round as England won the senior and combined ladies, juniors, veterans and super veterans team trophies. Caroline Povey and Anita North claimed ladies High Gun and runner-up respectively, while Steven Dawkes took veteran High Gun and John Winn triumphed in the super veterans category. Matthew Panter was awarded with the new cap High Gun title. Team manager John Offord, who also won the winning team manager award, said it was a “brilliant result from a strong and experienced side”. He added: “As manager. I…

“It must have got up via the scaffolding on the house next door. People were coming out of their houses with telephoto cameras — but luckily no-one decided to shoot it!” The London Evening Standard quotes Rachel Johnson who spotted a fox napping on a window sill in Notting Hill. “We [now] know the owls’ silent flight ability is even more superior than we thought. You could say of all birds it is the king of acoustic stealth.” Professor Jinkui Chu, of Dalian University of Technology in China, reveals how owl’s feathers act as “stealth technology” by turning energy into heat as it flies.…

Three men have been jailed after releasing more than 40 wild boar from a South Wales farm during a burglary. Breeder Greg Davies discovered that the boar had been set loose from his 110-strong herd at Brynmyach farm in Maesteg, Bridgend, in April 2014. Some of the animals were later discovered with their throats cut and heads battered, while £10,000 of machinery had also been stolen from a shed on the farm’s grounds. Carl John, 27, from Kenfig Hill and James Marlow, 29, from Aberavon, were jailed for three years and eight months, and Adam John, 30, from Port Talbot was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to charges including burglary, possessing criminal property and allowing an animal to escape into the wild. South Wales wildlife and environment crime…

Crayfish caveats In Simon Whitehead’s article on the American invaders (Crayfish trapping: a signal success, 12 August), he mentions trapping on a private pond. I feel he should have emphasised the point — as he did with the requirement of an Environment Agency (EA) certificate — that you need the owner’s permission to set the traps and collect the crayfish. The certification is the same as your EA rod licence: you can fish (or trap) once you have permission from the fisheries’ owner to do so. If you read all the information before applying for your trapping licence, it states NOT to put your trapped crayfish in water and remove from the site, because when you discharge the water away from the site it could carry, and therefore spread, diseases.…

Different crops and farming landscapes offer different advantages — and disadvantages — when out shooting vulpines. Whether it’s baled hay, stubbles or fields of tall maize, your approach needs to be adjusted accordingly. Thatching straw is still harvested the old-fashioned way, with numerous stooks built to keep the crop dry until it is collected. It’s not easy to shoot around fields such as this because visibility is extremely limited. Though most farmers make their hay and straw into giant round bales, there is still a market for small ones, as they can be handled without specialist machinery. This is ideal for foxing: not only can you drive by to spot your quarry, but also being on a road means you won’t attract much attention. Round bales are great both to…

It is all too easy to become confused about the status of certain trophies, and this year confusion has been rife when it comes to the scoring of trophies. The confusion largely stems from the entry into the trophy measuring arena of first BASC and, more recently, the British Deer Society (BDS). It is the nature of the service offered that is the issue. Neither organisation is connected to the CIC, so neither is licensed nor authorised to offer a CIC evaluation, nor can they issue a CIC score or record any measurements in the CIC database. Whatever claims individuals make on behalf of either organisation, the assessments they offer are not comparable to the genuine article. When approached by the copyright holders of the formulae, both protest that they…

Wildlife A short life I’d be grateful if you would settle an argument as to how long butterflies live? I have a friend who insists that they only live for a few days, but I’m sure that many species live for much longer than that. M. Wilkinson, by email DAVID TOMLINSON SAYS: A butterfly’s lifespan varies greatly depending on the species. Our longest-lived butterflies are those that over-winter as adults — the brimstone, small tortoiseshell, comma and peacock. These butterflies emerge in the summer, feed for a few days, then go into hibernation. This can be as early as July and they will not be seen again until roused by a sunny, warm day the following spring. They will then fly for as long as four weeks. As they age,…

I noted that despite the nation’s enthusiasm for dogs, especially when they can perform tricks or win ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, there is one section of the canine community that seldom, if ever, gets more than a passing mention (Country Diary, 24 June). Well-trained, or even not so well-trained, working gundogs are pariahs where television is concerned. There’s no problem if sheepdogs can be seen doing whatever they do with sheep, or if the canine wonders can be trained to assist those in need of help, but the entire world of the working gundog and all it entails is totally neglected, quite simply because it would be politically incorrect to shed a beneficial light on a fieldsport. Yet, it seems, it was not always so. A reader, Sue Brockie, wrote…

The Great British Press is wonderful, isn’t it? Take the Daily Mail, an astonishingly successful newspaper. It never ceases to annoy the hell out of the lefties, which is fine by me. At times, however, its populism does seem to plumb the depths of desperation. As I write, I am looking at a story occupying the entire upper half of a right-hand page (a prime position) of the Daily Mail. Titled “Is Cecil the lion looking down on us?” the piece is about a cloud that appeared in the sky over St Neots. This cloud — pictured alongside the article — might, with a bit of imagination, look like a lion’s head. Yes, a Cecil-shaped cloud over Cambridgeshire. Wow! The accompanying text is bylined “Daily Mail Reporter”, a wheeze often…

The results of a study released this month by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and ETH Zurich show that fallow bucks make judgements about mating rivals based upon the pitch of their calls. Experts played a variety of calls to male deer in Petworth Park, West Sussex, and analysed the responses. The bucks treated lower pitched calls, such as those made by larger, more dominant, fallow bucks, as more threatening.…

British Shooting has announced a series of talent recruitment days in September and October, as the organisation searches for the next Olympic champions. The days are aimed at giving people with an enthusiasm for clayshooting the chance to become involved in the sport professionally, as British Shooting looks to identify and develop athletes with the potential for Olympic success. The recruitment days will be open to shooters aged between 14 and 25. Dean Leak, British Shooting’s Talent Pathway manager, said: “Recruiting new talent into our programmes will remain a key priority. I urge anyone who has a passion for clay target shooting and has a dream to become the next Peter Wilson or Amber Hill to get involved.” If you have a passion for the sport and would like to…

GOOD TIMES Tim Shayle ( pictured ) has has been given the go-ahead to reopen Gloucestershire’s Mount Oliver Wood shoot after it was closed down last year. DEFRA lifted restrictions last week following an outbreak of bird flu on a Lancashire farm in July. Nearby premises can now move poultry without caveat. BAD TIMES The number of swans along a stretch of the river Thames has dropped from 120 to 83 birds since last year, according to the annual swan upping census taken in July. The Pit Man, a world-class racing pigeon that went missing five weeks ago, was found after it was attacked by a buzzard, falling out of the sky and into an enclosure at Dartmoor Zoo.…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH You’re lucky to have gates to shut! With reference to the comments about shutting gates ( Letters , 5 and 19 August), the farmers in the area referred to are fortunate to have gates. In our part of County Durham the farmers lost the battle with the gate thieves years ago. After replacing the gates several times, the insurance companies will no longer pay out. The gates have now been replaced by large tree trunks and are “opened” and “closed” by a JCB. D. Valks, by email WIN! The author of this week’s letter of the week has won themselves a state-of-the-art Western Rivers Mantis Caller. This handheld, compact caller features over 75 calls to help you turn the predators into prey. The sleek design is also…

Well, we are there at last. From a situation where we thought that we might have lost the use of rodenticides to control rats in the countryside, we now have a training programme in place to allow their continued use ( News , 12 August). It has been a fairly tortuous road, which has taken more than two years, but as you read this, the first keepers will be taking the training that will allow them to continue to poison rats after July next year. I have been impressed by the way the various organisations have come together to achieve it. The spirit of co-operation between the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, BASC, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and the Countryside Alliance (CA) has been a…

Most of us are told to keep our mouth shut when not using it to talk, but did you know the nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), a species of nocturnal bird, flies through the air with its beak open? This allows it to “hawk” for insects — mainly moths, beetles and crane flies. The species was once known as the “goatsucker” because it was believed to steal milk from goats, but as Alan Davies and Ruth Miller point out in their book, The Joy of Birdwatching, they were more likely to have been snatching the insects disturbed by the animal’s feet. That’s not the only unusual thing about the bird — it sleeps on open ground during the day in full view, relying only on its grey-brown patterned plumage for camouflage. As…

I’m currently reading The Bird Collectors , by Barbara and Richard Mearns. It’s a fascinating account of the collectors who travelled the world trapping and shooting birds for the great museums or wealthy enthusiasts. Their heyday was the second half of the 19th century, for there were still many new species to be discovered, while the perfection of the breechloading shotgun made collecting much easier than it had been in the days of flintlocks and muzzle-loaders. According to the authors, “some collectors considered a dog essential in difficult terrain or when pursuing particularly elusive quarry. It was after all an incontrovertible law that shot birds would fall into the densest cover or into the deepest water, thereby making the services of a good retriever invaluable.” Most of us who work…

When I’m sick of work and I lean back in my office chair to stretch out my feet and prod my snoring dog with my toe, my thoughts turn to sea fish. And when my thoughts turn to sea fish, my stomach starts to rumble, my taste buds begin to tingle and my mind revolves around my favourite quarry: cod, turbot, bass, black bream and mackerel. I then muse on sushi, tempura batter, fish pies and baked fillets dotted with crimson sliced chorizo. What happens in my head is a fast direct connection between the act of fishing and the act of eating. Fish equals dinner. The bigger and fresher the fish, the tastier the dinner. It’s simple, basic and fundamental: I fish to eat. And when I’ve eaten all…