Innholdsfortegnelse for November 25, 2015 i Shooting Times & Country

IT IS TO be hoped that the success of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation-supported appeal against Natural England’s refusal of a licence to control buzzards (p.4) sets a precedent for a more sensible approach to licensing. No doubt there will be an outcry from the usual quarters, but the case has revealed that the law of the land was not followed because of special interest pressure. Granting a licence for a gamekeeper whose livelihood is threatened and who has tried every non-lethal measure to stop buzzards killing his gamebirds is no different from a farmer being granted a licence to stop ravens killing his lambs in the uplands. The buzzard is not in decline; in fact, it has undergone an explosion in numbers in recent years. It is right that wild…

Shooting groups have appealed to politicians not to make any “knee-jerk” reactions in the wake of the Paris attacks, as the European Union (EU) brought forward plans to tighten gun laws. The EU legislative body, the European Commission, last week announced that it would be amending the Firearms Directive to make it more difficult to acquire firearms. Proposed alterations include the restriction of firearms licences to five years, changes to the classification of hunting firearms and medical tests for firearm owners. The European Commission has been working since 2013 to create common minimum standards across the member countries on deactivation of weapons, and on a review of existing legislation on firearms. An EU official last week said that the work on this is now being “significantly accelerated”. Tim Bonner, chief…

27 NOVEMBER GAME AND WINE TASTING EVENING Oysters Restaurant, Strabane, Co Tyrone Tel 02871 382690 29 NOVEMBER SHERWOOD FOREST PLOUGHING MATCH Budby, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire Tel 01623 845461 30 NOVEMBER LADIES’ CLAYSHOOTINGDAY Fauxdegla Shooting Ground, Llandegla, North Wales. Tel 01244 573017 1 DECEMBER NGO RAT CONTROL FOR GAMEKEEPERS COURSE Wormsley estate office, Stockenchurch, Buckinghamshire Tel 01833 660869 4- 6 DECEMBER BTO ANNUAL CONFERENCE Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire Tel 01842 750050 5 DECEMBER BASC NOVICE GAMESHOOTING DAY Renshaw Wood Land, Cosdall Wood, West Midlands Tel 01283 810910…

Brownstone is not a commercial shoot; there is a syndicate in place and they shoot around 11 days per season with an average bag of 125. A few odd days are sold via Guns on Pegs (www.gunsonpegs.com). The income from syndicate fees and the few sold days helps to cover the day-to-day costs, but it comes nowhere near matching the investment in the land or all the time and effort put in over the years. Mike said that ideally he would like another 50 acres to take the shoot acreage to 450 — that way he could create one further main drive and a smaller drive so they would then be able to shoot every seven to nine days rather than once every 12 as it is at the moment.…

By all accounts the 5th Earl of Lonsdale was a remarkable and extraordinary man, who loved all kinds of sport — boxing, athletics, football, hunting and shooting — women and gambling. If you enjoyed this piece by Ian Morton wait until you read the Earl’s full exploits documented in Douglas Sutherland’s book, The Yellow Earl, which was first published in 1965 and has now been republished by Merlin Unwin Books, priced at £20. To order a copy, visit www.merlinunwin.co.uk.…

For wild gamebirds, or those that we have released, the idea behind winter feeding is to ensure that they are well nourished, and to hold them on the shoot. Winterfeeding, however, also helps our farmland birds, such as yellowhammers, chaffinches and even good old sparrows. WHAT TO PUT IN THE FEEDERS Once gamebirds are fully grown, most shoots feed whole wheat as the routine diet, for pheasants at least. However, growing numbers continue to offer some pellets, especially to red-legged partridges. This move to pellets recognises a basic truth about wheat; it is not a “complete” food even for an adult bird. Many keepers like to “spice up” the diet that they feed to their birds, and attractants based on aniseed are a popular addition to wheat. I am less…

On my third Solway visit, one morning after breakfast I walked down to the hotel with the intention of booking a roughshoot. As I approached, to my horror I saw the wooden gunroom enveloped in smoke. Dogs were running loose, having been released from the adjacent kennels for their safety. Fortunately, the summoned fire brigade had the blaze under control quickly. It appeared that a group of fowlers returning from a morning flight had opted to leave their guns in their vehicle, ready for a daytime shoot. However, one of them was strict on safety precautions and had insisted on locking his gun in the gunroom. He had decided to clean the shotgun before going inside for breakfast and had carelessly dropped an oily rag on top of an oil…

Despite seeing photographs of the burr-carrying plant that caused so many problems for the dogs in Serbia, I’m not sure of its botanical identity. However, it does look as if it was burdock; an extraordinarily successful plant. The burrs of burdock were the inspiration for the inventor of Velcro, as they have a hook system that enables them to catch on to anything furred (or clothed) that brushes past them. They’re horribly difficult to remove. Many of the handlers in Serbia dealt with the problem by coating their dogs’ fur with olive oil, making it much less susceptible to the burrs. Untreated dogs that became heavily burred while running were prone to stop and try to tear the offending burrs from their fur. Rob Gould had rechargeable clippers with him…

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,…

Smithfield Fatstock Show has a long and celebrated history, but its name is misleading: the show now takes place at the East of England Showground at Peterborough. This year’s two-day show opens tomorrow, a week earlier than usual. The Royal Smithfield Club was formed in 1798, and was known initially as the Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society. Its original aim was to organise a national fatstock show: it did so with such success that it became established as one of the premier shows of its kind in the world. The show was last held in London, at Earls Court, in 2004, but it wasn’t until 2011 that it moved to its current home at Peterborough. It has long been famous for the record prices it produces. In 2013, Harrods of…

A new Guide to Good Game Handlingwas launched by the Code of Good Shooting Practice (COGSP) last week. The four-page guide provides step-by-step advice on matters such as handling game in the field to transporting it to the larder and then on to consumers. Chairman of the COGSP Bill Tyrwhitt-Drake said: “We have produced a document that will give guidance to shoots of all sizes on the correct handling of game to ensure that the end consumer receives the game in the best possible condition.” Richard Townsend, the National Game Dealers’ Association’s (NGDA) representative for the COGSP, commented: “Working together we have produced a very useful guide to handling game. The guide gives an overview of best practices when dealing with shot gamebirds.” The COGSP is overseen by a committee…

Nominate your rural hero Businesses and individuals across Scotland have until the end of the week to put themselves or others forward for the 2015 Scottish Rural Awards. Nominations will close on Friday, 27 November. The annual accolade highlights the work of those living and working in rural areas, and categories include rural enterprise, business start-up, rural hero and artisan drink. To make a nomination, visit www.scottishruralawards.org/nominate-for-2016. Animals already hit by climate change Europe’s wildlife is being affected by climate change and those effects will intensify over the course of the century, according to a new RSPB report published last week. The study claims extreme weather will become more intense and wet and windy springs were cited as a particular danger to shags. It also suggests that Europe’s bumblebee species…

Who are you and what do you do? I head up the BASC teams covering government and political affairs, publications, press and media, website and design. What does a typical week at work involve? Working with the teams to communicate the enormous amount of work we do to promote and protect shooting. This includes speaking to the press, overseeing publications and representing shooting to Government. The work is endlessly varied and enormously worthwhile. What would you say is the greatest issue facing the shooting industry at the moment? BASC members think of shooting as their sport and recreation, not as their industry. The greatest issue will always be ensuring that what we do is lawful, done to high standards and in accordance with best practice. The future of shooting depends…

When the woodcock finally came in the last few days of October, their arrival was subdued and low-key. It would take some really cold weather before I started to find them in any numbers on the hill ground, and the first few weeks consigned the early arrivals to the deep brambles down on the foreshore. They took some time to settle down, and it was well into November before they could be found with any reliability. Woodcock flighting is perhaps one of the most misunderstood branches of gameshooting, and it occupies such a fine, chancy niche that most Guns hardly give it a second’s thought. A woodcock bottleneck Many will have seen a woodcock dash right past their nose while setting up for a duck flight, but not everyone has…

There may well be more dark clouds on the horizon for gamekeepers, and indeed all of those who shoot, in the coming seasons ahead if some of what is in the Law Commission report (News, 18 November) comes to fruition. It is a massive piece of work and, rather like the curate’s egg, is good in parts. There are, though, a number of areas, especially where changes to seasons, species and so forth may be made under the whim of a minister — or for that matter Natural England via a change in General Licence conditions — which could spell real trouble. For those who think that would not happen, please remember that Natural England has been guilty of exactly that in the past. It is supposed to consult, and…

HOW BLANKING-IN CAN BENEFIT SHOOT DAYS “On a quieter drive, pulling out will mean it isn’t over-shot and left empty for the rest of the season” Nothing on a shoot stays the same, and to expect it to would be a mistake. Part of the attraction of gameshooting is its sometimes unpredictable nature. Woods mature, farming patterns change and seemingly small things such as an increase in disturbance at the wrong time of day, or for several days, when the birds are trying to settle, will make them behave differently. Once their behaviour begins to change in the days leading up to the start of the season, it is safe to assume that they’ll behave differently on shoot days too. Change isn’t always for the worse, though. New drives and…

Guns, just like other objects, have their record breakers — biggest, smallest, longest range, biggest magazine and so on. I have just acquired a specimen of the holder of the world record for the smallest self-loading pistol ever made — the tiny German Kolibri. With a bore size of 2.7mm and measuring 70mm overall, this is the smallest functional self-loading pistol that ever went into production. Its designer was an Austrian called Georg Grabner who came from Rehburg. In 1910, Grabner patented the design for his minuscule 2.7mm cartridge. I can’t be sure, but I think he was inspired by the 6.35mm (.25in) cartridge that the Belgian firm of Fabrique Nationale had developed for its “baby Browning” pistol. This created a fashion for tiny firearms known as “vest-pocket pistols”. They…

LABRADOR: THE STORY OF THE WORLD’S FAVOURITE DOG By Ben Fogle Dog lovers will appreciate this book, which is said to be the first comprehensive history of the Labrador. Written by TV presenter Ben Fogle, it covers both pet and working dogs, and attempts to explain why the breed is so popular. But it’s not just a straight history: Fogle weaves the story of his own beloved black Labrador, Inca, into the narrative. £20 (hardback); ISBN: 978-0007549016; www.harpercollins.co.uk LANDMARKS By Robert Macfarlane Shortlisted for the UK’s most prestigious non-fiction award, the Samuel Johnson Prize, earlier this year, Landmarkshas been republished in a new winter edition for Christmas. In it, Macfarlane travels from Cumbria to the Cairngorms to explore how the power of language shapes our sense of place.…

Well, that’s the trout fishing season done with and so to the annual period of reflection that is November. Reports must be written for the Riparian Owners Association and plans made for the winter work. I have many trees to attend to and when the anglers start referring to one of the river crossings as “the wobbly bridge” you know you have a construction project to complete. A few weeks ago I attended a keepers’ day further down the river. It can be a solitary business looking after a chalkstream and there were several keepers I had not seen all season. Days such as these are always great fun and, while there is an inevitable amount of talking shop, the tone is always light. It also serves as a more…

In British slang, “chavish” is a disparaging word used to describe someone who is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour”. But in old English the word has a different meaning. First used in 1674, “chavish” describes the sound of many birds chirping together all at once. It was also used to describe people making a noise by talking over the top of one another. Another old rural word no longer in use is “cottier”, which the Oxford Dictionarydefines as “a rural labourer living in a cottage”. This has its roots in the old English word “cot”, which means “a small, simple cottage”.…

Chef Matt Woodley has worked for many top chefs including Gordon Ramsay. He is the resident chef at the Plowden Arms (www.plowdenarmsshiplake.co.uk) in Oxfordshire. Matt prides himself on using seasonal and local ingredients to create the historical dishes that bring his menu to life. As most of us know, the red grouse is unique to Britain. It makes a tasty dish and is most commonly served roasted with game chips and bread sauce. My recipe is a take on this British classic but I use additional seasonal ingredients, including watercress and blackberries, to give it a fresh twist. It does require a bit of preparation, but it’s sure to impress, especially if you serve it to dinner guests. RED GROUSE WITH LIVER EN CROUTE AND BREAD PURÉE Ingredients FOR THE…

2011 Mr McMorn first applied to NE for a control licence — and was rejected — and did so again in each following year, always with NGO support. DECEMBER 2014 The NGO, which agreed to support the legal challenge financially, launches the Fighting Fund, in response to offers of help from the fieldsports community. EARLY 2015 Mr McMorn’s small shooting business collapses due to poor bag returns in 2014 caused by poults being lost to buzzard predation. JUNE 2015 The judicial review is heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Mr Justice Ouseley reserved judgement to give greater consideration to the case. NOVEMBER 2015 The High Court overturns Natural England’s refusal to grant Mr McMorn a buzzard control licence.…

READ Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, written by Steven Falk and illustrated by Richard Lewington (Bloomsbury, £35). This new paperback addition to the British Wildlife Field Guides series is an invaluable tool for identifying all species of bee in Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands. BUY John Field’s new Leone hunting bag (£75). Constructed from hard-wearing Cordura and lined with lightweight PVC, it is ideal for carrying around ammunition, gundog kit and game this season. Visit www.johnfield.eu for further information. EAT The Great British Game Week is on now, running until Sunday, 29 November. Pubs, hotels and restaurants across the country are joining with BASC’s Taste of Game and the Countryside Alliance’s Game to Eat campaigns to promote the benefits of buying and eating game…

Ross Murray was this month appointed as president of the CLA, succeeding Henry Robinson, who completed his two-year term. Mr Murray, along with his wife Elizabeth, runs the Llanover estate in Monmouthshire, which includes agriculture and forestry enterprises. He also farms black Welsh mountain sheep. “The CLA continues to go from strength to strength, successfully representing our members at EU, national and local levels as well as providing expert practical advice and guidance,” said Mr Murray. “I am proud to lead the CLA at a time when its work is more important than ever, in the face of uncertainty over relationships with Europe as well as challenging times for farming.” He continued: “I look forward to demonstrating the value of the rural economy and showing how managing the land is…

A record number of seabirds fledged their nests in Scotland’s nature reserves this past year, including 2,634 guillemots on Tiree, according to RSPB Scotland. Holt’s Auctioneers has launched a new online retail service to help customers get their hands on “one-off and unusual” sporting gifts ahead of Christmas. Items currently available include cased game carriers and horn-handled knives. For details visit www.holtsshop.com. A red stag was shot dead on the grounds of Antrim Grammar School, Co Antrim, by armed police officers earlier this month. The deer wandered on to the property, but could not be removed humanely, and was judged to be a danger to the public. In the 11 November issue, we incorrectly stated that the Lords versus Commons clay shoot took place at the West London Shooting School.…

CAN YOU KEEP A COLT? It is always a joy to share in the knowledge from writers so accomplished as Bill Harriman, and his article on the Colt automatic pistol in .455 calibre (Gunroom, 28 October) was no exception. However, he has thrown me a puzzle. Bill states that it is still legally possible to own this particular pistol on a firearms certificate, but can I ask how? Along with all other handgun users at the time of the handgun ban, mine went to the great police melting pot, including my colt .45 ACP that had a production date of 1916. I am aware of the “heritage” exceptions, and I know about the “obsolete” calibre exceptions, but can Bill explain why this particular pistol is allowed? And is it allowed…

Michael Hockin dreamed of creating his own shoot. Then he and his wife came to Brownstone Manor Farm, near Yealmpton in South Devon. “It amounted to a grass and arable valley with just six trees on the place,” he recalled. “There were no birds of any sort.” That was 24 years ago. Since then Mike, with help from gamekeeper Neil Rogers, has transformed what was a rundown, almost derelict farm. Where once there were six trees, now there are more than 30,000; 12 ponds and a lake have been dug and planted and they now attract numerous wild duck, swans, little grebes and moorhens. The wildfowl are rarely shot as Mike freely admits that he gets a massive amount of pleasure watching them drop in at flight time. The development…

The Lonsdale Library, a series of some 30 volumes published over the first half of the 20th century and covering most sports and pastimes, commissioned the most revered experts. Every book earned critical praise — “authoritative”, “comprehensive”, “best all-round”, “rich feast”, “veritable bible” and so on. Shooting by Moor, Field and Farm was no exception, with 34 chapters covering every conceivable aspect of the sport in Britain. So who was Lonsdale, and how did he come to lend his name to this huge and prestigious project? Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, was a prodigious sportsman and one of the most flamboyant and popular characters of his time. The second son of the family, he was schooled after Eton by the champion boxer Jem Mace, joined a travelling circus,…

I’VE OFTEN BEEN amazed at the distances handlers will travel to compete in tests or trials, but I suspect that a new British record has been set by members of the GB team who drove from England to Niš in Serbia to compete in the 37th World Championship for hunting dogs. The journey from the Channel Tunnel was 1,500 miles in each direction. Team member Rob Gould left England on 21 October, following a day’s shooting at Belvoir Castle, and arrived at Niš at 11pm the following day. He and fellow team member Howard Kirby had driven virtually non-stop, only pausing to change drivers every two hours. Due to a clash of dates, I didn’t manage to get to Serbia, so I’m indebted to Rob for his help with this…

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) has focus and tenacity. It is like a terrier that won’t let go until its teeth meet. I say this because no sooner do I lament the way wildlife law seems to be treated as an ever-tightening ratchet (Sharpshooter, 11 November) than a plucky gamekeeper and his organisation manage to change the game. I am, of course, referring to the stunning court judgement achieved by Ricky McMorn and the NGO on buzzard control licences (see News, p.4). Natural England had the money and the massed ranks of the bird brigade, but Ricky and the NGO had right on their side. That, and determination to see the case through. But let’s be clear: the one thing the court ruling won’t do is open the door to…