Innholdsfortegnelse for October 28, 2015 i Shooting Times & Country

THE RSPB SENT out mixed messages to the press last week. It announced an expensive new hen harrier tagging programme, seemingly set up with the sole purpose of revealing the evil nature of the gamekeeping profession. It talks about the birds in “conflict with gamekeepers”. Then it issued a press release praising the conservation work of the keepering at the GWCT’s Loddington Farm, which “required predator management.” While the latter is to be welcomed, it is confusing for the public to have keepers praised and demonised almost in the same breath. If, as I’m sure is the case, the RSPB recognises shooting is an essential part of the solution to the collapse of the UK’s wildlife, such smears on the profession won’t help. On a jollier note, BASC has done…

A charity clay shoot at the Cricket St Thomas Hotel near Chard in Somerset has raised £2,000 for Help for Heroes and the BASC South West Young Shots Programme. Scotland’s cereal harvest for 2015 is expected to be the highest for 20 years, according to new figures revealed by the country’s chief statistician. Gangs targeted pheasant farms in separate attacks in Berkshire earlier this month. The criminals killed birds and caused several thousand pounds’ worth of damage at locations including the Wasing estate in Aldermaston and farmland in Hermitage. Red squirrels in the Glens of Antrim face increased risk of disease, following a rise in the number of greys, which carry the deadly squirrel pox, spotted in the area. “Goldcrests keep coming and winter thrushes pour in... autumn migration is…

POLITICIANS’ PREJUDICE In his Have your say(14 October) Christopher Graffius said: “No ministers should base their actions or policies on personal prejudice”. There have unfortunately been all too many occasions when they (and MPs in general) have done exactly that and I see no easy way of stopping this abuse of power. Our willingness to accept each new restriction or ban placed on us, rather than behave more like French farmers and air-traffic controllers, contributes to their success in getting away with it. Yes, we must work with all parties, but we also need to develop more spine and refuse to accept meekly everything thrown at us. M. Boxall, Northumberland SEEKING CARTERSCOTT RELATIVES With reference to Jeremy Hobson’s article Shooting, keepering & kangaroo hunting(30 September) regarding old sporting-themed books, I…

I have in the recent past touched on the invasion of polecats, or polecat-ferret hybrids, in my part of the West Country — South Somerset, Dorset and East Devon. In recent years, the number of reported sightings and roadkills has steadily escalated, and these animals are now posing a significant threat to shoots, large and small alike. Are they the genuine article — true wild polecats — or have they been tainted by feral ferrets ? It is hard to say, though the roadkills I have seen, while displaying the white bandit face mask, have had a tendency to a brownish fur rather than the black and yellow underfur appearance of the true polecat, Mustela putorius. The fact of the matter is that there are now far more polecats in…

I’m sure that not many of us go picking-up for the money: the opportunity to work our dogs is the major reward, and any payment we receive is simply a bonus. However, there’s far more to a day’s picking-up than simply sending your dog to collect shot game. For me it’s a day in the countryside, a chance to observe everything from dogs and people to wildlife and farmstock. I like to be able to name anything I encounter, whether it’s a redpoll or a Charolais, a Suffolk or a British white. Redpolls are both small finches and a breed of cattle from East Anglia. A Charolais can be either a cow or a sheep, while there’s both a Suffolk sheep and a Suffolk punch horse. The British white is…

Sometimes, you just have to laugh. At the media, I mean. The desperate hunt for a fast-dwindling band of diehard readers has meant even normally “sane” broadsheet newspapers are driven to milk any story that might possibly have a bit of traction with readers. Take The Telegraph, for example. Traditionally a bastion of staid reportage, the paper now seems to think that stories along the lines of “who shot Cecil the lion?” are a rich seam to mine. I lost count of how many pieces the paper carried about Cecil, big game hunting and the like. The paper seems astonished to discover that people shoot big critters in Africa. Presumably, the fact that hunting is an integral part of the economy and land management of rural Africa has somehow escaped…

READ The Stalking Party by D.P. Hart-Davis (Merlin Unwin, £14.99). This “fieldsports thriller” follows a stalking party, which culminates in murder. But which of the shooting group has put their fellow hunters in their sights and can they be stopped before they kill again? FEED You can help out hedgehogs in your garden by leaving food and creating habitats as the cold season approaches. They are partial to seeds, mealworms and fat balls, while cat food is also a good choice, but avoid milk and bread. A log pile in an undisturbed part of the garden will give hedgehogs a place to hide, and will also attract insects for them to eat. ATTEND The Countryside Alliance’s Suffolk Committee is hosting a game supper at Glemham Hall near Woodbridge on Saturday,…

The Countryside Alliance and BASC have urged all shooters to comply with the law regarding lead ammunition, while talks regarding its future got under way in Europe last week. The plea came as Simon Prince, Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police, and national lead for rural crime, revealed that it is believed some members of the public are still using lead to shoot wildfowl in England and Wales. They are doing this knowingly, or through a lack of understanding of the law, he said. “The law is simple: it is illegal to use lead ammunition to shoot wildfowl. Anyone who does so, risks a fine of £1,000 and a criminal conviction,” he said. Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, commented: “We need to get to the final few who,…

I was interested to read that David Bezzant would welcome the revival of the working dachshund (Devotees of the dachshund, 21 October). If he had been in Kent about 30 years ago, he may have encountered my miniature long-haired dachshund called Pru (Coleacre Carrabean) that worked on a local shoot with my Weimaraner, Becky. Pru was trained to the whistle, competed in obedience, mini agility, hound racing and the show ring. I made her a small harness for tracking human scent, but her first love was hunting. When Becky went on point, Pru would dive between her legs to flush the quarry. Pheasants were too large to handle, apart from tail feathers, but she could manage a pigeon. Fortunately she never went to ground or gave voice, but gave me…

A belt of oaks, still in full leaf, on the ridge of a steep wooded, furze-clad bank is outlined against a cold, grey sky. Beaters are slowly walking-up a thorn hedge leading to the wood, the odd spaniel-ejected bird flicking up, to glide into the dense cover ahead. A hen, then another, whirls across the line to my left, saluted but unscathed and then to my astonishment and near dismay, a cock bird chooses to fly directly over my stand. I swing the old Cogswell & Harrison hammergun (1878 and nitro-proofed!) and fire — and the bird collapses stone dead! I mention this, not to boast of my prowess, but simply to confirm that an ancient Damascus-barrelled hammergun, with both barrels true cylinder and loaded with 28g of No. 7½…

Our shoot is getting ready for the season with a series of work parties to make release-pens ready, put screens around the duck pond, cut rides and do all of those tasks that will make us ready for our first day in November. Our work finished, we normally repair to the pub to have, as my old friend Samuel Pepys would put it, “some good discourse”. As we shoot on a Ministry of Defence training area, many of our members are military officers. I was speaking to an agreeable RAF officer who was incredulous when I said that the fledgling Royal Air Force used .455 Colt automatic pistols during the last year of World War I. However, fact is always stranger than fiction and this is the story of the…

The experts THE ULTIMATE SHOOTING QUIZ TEAM 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 Retired veterinary surgeon, acts as an advisor on animal welfare TONY JACKSON A game Shot, keen stalker and former editor of Shooting Times TOM PAYNE Professional shooting instructor and avid pigeon shooter Keeping dogs burr-free GUNDOGS Q I exercise my gundogs over unused industrial land that is covered with all types of rough cover. This year…

MEADOW PIPIT By the end of October, upwards of a million meadow pipits will have exchanged their moorland breeding territories for lowland farmland. Not many people notice their passing, but vast numbers leave Scotland for England, or perhaps France, Spain or Portugal. Here, they search for small seeds on stubble fields and in other open habitats. Next time you disturb a meadow pipit when playing golf or beating for pheasants, you might want to think about the fact that the same bird could be on a Scottish grouse moor next April or May, delivering its trilling song in a parachute-like display flight. By moving north, birds can take advantage of the annual summer flush of insect life, spending long days searching for caterpillars to feed to two or more broods…

SNP support for shooting The Scottish National Party has voiced its support for shooting sports. Former environment minister Michael Russell MSP recognised the importance of the sport to the Scottish economy in a speech on land reform in Aberdeen this month. He said: “Many people in my constituency either participate in country sports or work within country pursuits. I don’t want to see anything in the bill that impedes rural activities, particularly deer management.” MP receives death threat over cull Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, has received a death threat after speaking out against the activities of anti-badger cull protestors. A text sent to Mr Liddell-Grainger warned: “We will come find you and your family then you [will] realise what a cull is.” The threat followed…

How does your work benefit shooting? Edgar Brothers business aside, I am also a guardian of the Birmingham Proof House, a Gun Trade Association Council member and I am on the Airgun Manufacturing and Trade Association Committee. Each organisation has different commitments to the gun trade, but all of them are important in keeping the industry supported and professional. Who are you and what do you do? I am managing director at Edgar Brothers. Based in Macclesfield, Edgar Brothers is one of the UK’s largest distributors of firearms and ammunition, representing brands such as Bushnell, Zoli, Hatsan, Savage, CZ, NSI and Hornady. What does a typical week involve for you? I’m in the office from 8am until 8pm. As MD, the role is very varied and touches all parts of…

Chief Constable Andy Marsh has been at the centre of several major news stories in recent weeks. He called for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) report, which highlighted failings in the application of firearms licensing in England and Wales (News, 23 September). He has also given his backing to the Law Commission’s plans to bring the current law on firearms, which is contained in more than 30 pieces of legislation, together under one Act (News, 29 July). Furthermore, he has given his support, in principle, to BASC’s white paper proposing 10-year firearms licences (News, 9 September), which includes plans to place encoded reminders on the medical records of those who hold firearms certificates. These would prompt GPs to notify the police if a patient becomes unsuitable to have access…

Bit by bit the guns are falling silent on most of the moors in England, for this season at any rate. It has, for most, been a year of simple consolidation, taking a small harvest, and ensuring that there is a suitable stock for 2016. I did wonder if a few moors would take the opportunity to reduce what had been a high stock left over from last year, and indeed, that has been the case with some —if to a rather limited degree. Some of the young-to-old ratios on various moors have been odd to say the least, with far more old than young. In most seasons this would have been deemed a bad thing. However, when you have a high stock left over from the previous year, it…

Every October I hear the same complaint: “The farmers are flailing the hedges and it makes such a mess, as well as destroying all the fruit that should be there for the birds.” Well, I sympathise and, yes, I’d rather the trim-up waited till late winter or early spring, for the sake of the wildlife. But there is a bigger picture — for the farmer with an autumn sowing, waiting till late winter means driving on and chewing up a growing crop. And yes, the flailed hedge does look pretty ragged, but it will recover. When I was young, and hedges were disappearing at a terrific rate, the flail mower was a new idea, and I hazard that it saved many a hedge from being grubbed out. Compared with what…

EARLIER THIS MONTH The Telegraph asked readers to vote online for their favourite breed of dog, which they did in impressive numbers. More than 30,000 votes were cast during the four days the poll was open. Its results make fascinating reading, for in the number one slot wasn’t a breed at all, but two cross-breeds. The cockerpoo and Labradoodle shared first place, gaining 1,000 more votes than the greyhound, which surprisingly was placed second. In third place was the spaniel, with no differentiation made for springers and cockers, while the Labrador/retriever took fourth slot. The poll results failed to make it clear whether the Labrador was lumped with the golden retriever, but I expect so. In fifth place was the collie, followed by the beagle, German shepherd, setter, dachshund…

We all know that ferrets are used to force rabbits out of their burrows, but did you know that, prior to the 19th century, lobsters or crabs are said to have been used for the same purpose in many coastal areas around the UK? In south Devon these were known as “sea ferrets”. According to Jill Mason’s newly published book The Rabbit, fishermen would put a toad, crab or lobster down the rabbit hole. The “sea ferret” would have a burning candle attached to its back, which — unsurprisingly — would scare the rabbits out of their burrows. “The ‘sea ferret’ had a candle on its back to scare the rabbits”…

Sugar beet is one of the most frustrating crops for the shoot manager. Though it acts as a great covercrop, it’s often a case of here today but gone tomorrow, for the farmer likes to lift sugar beet as soon as its growth has slowed, which is when the sugar content is at its highest. The campaign (as the beet harvest is known) starts in late September and gathers pace as the days shorten. However, the sugar factories do dictate when the beet can be delivered to them, as they require a steady supply through to the end of the campaign, which finishes in late January. Today most of our sugar beet is grown in eastern England, within range of the four surviving sugar factories: Wissington, Cantley, Bury St Edmunds…

I recently revisited Charles Bingham’s book, The River Test, that he wrote in the late 1980s, in which he chronicled a series of interviews that he carried out with riverkeepers and riparian owners up and down the valley. These included details of management practices undertaken at the time, a few funny anecdotes and hopes and fears for the future. At the time, I was working part-time on the middle river while undertaking three months’ work experience with what was the National Rivers Authority. In between the exciting anti-poaching operations in Southampton water and a lot of electro-fishing, I was charged with the task of updating the authority’s records on who owned what bit of river and the contact details for the relevant keeper or owner. I seemed to shadow Charles…