Innholdsfortegnelse for 11-Jan-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

Alasdair Mitchell’s Sharpshooter column is always a must-read and he hits the mark again when he discusses the case of a person escaping two criminal charges for disturbing a peregrine falcon’s nest (p.66). This is the sort of thing that the RSPB is rightly hot on, except it appears that the person in question was a former RSPB chief, and the charges were dropped. Funny old world isn’t it? Perhaps they are taking a lead from the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm — is there one rule for them and another for us? The fact that we shoot birds undoubtedly prejudices other people’s opinion of our relationship with nature and conservation in the same way that those who do not shoot birds, or run conservation organisations, feel superior and self-righteous…

23 JANUARY GWCT FARMLAND BIRD ID DAY Culfargie, Balbeggie, Perth and Kinross Tel 01572 718730 25 JANUARY VENISON BUTCHERY MASTERCLASS AND GAME DINNER Swan at Lavenham Hotel & Spa, Lavenham, Suffolk Tel 01787 247477 28 JANUARY BASC MINK CONTROL TRAINING COURSE Woodland Skills Centre, Bodfari, Denbighshire Tel 01244 573029 31 JAN – 5 FEB JAGD & HUND HUNTING TRADE FAIR Rheinlanddamm, Dortmund, Germany Tel +49 (0)231 12040 5 FEBRUARY SCOTTISH LADIES SHOOTING CLUB EVENT Cluny Clays, Kirkcaldy, Fife Tel 07971 547826 16 FEBRUARY KEEPERS CHOICE GAME & COUNTRYSIDE CONFERENCE Cokethorpe School , Witney, Oxfordshire Tel 01489 780033…

Bright Seeds photo winner is named A photograph (below) of the rolling hills of Berwick St John, Wiltshire, taken by dairy farmer Lucy Elizabeth Smith, has won an online photo competition hosted by Salisbury-based covercrop specialist Bright Seeds. The photo competition, which was run on Bright Seeds’ social media channels, sought to find the best photograph of the maize harvest. After receiving more than 100 entries, the organisers said it was an indication of the popularity of social media in the agricultural sector today. British Deer Society sponsors charity event The British Deer Society’s Northern Ireland branch (BDS-NI) donated more than £900 to the St Anne’s Cathedral Black Santa Appeal on its opening day in Belfast. The sum was raised at a gala banquet organised in partnership with the Ulster…

“Lost worlds of dense bramble, blackthorn and ash create sanctuaries where birds lie up” A belated Happy New Year. Where has the season gone? It seems like only five minutes ago that it began, and the countdown to its end is under way. That said, I feel as if I’ve been working against the clock for the past few months, simply because starting on a new shoot late in the season, in June, is far from ideal. It is a state of affairs that is almost guaranteed to compound the potential pitfalls a keeper may face on an unfamiliar shoot. I took the decision to try to be realistic and accept that it would only be possible to make small changes this year, such as tinkering with the pens and…

FIELD TRIALS DO NOT make a good spectator sport. That’s something I concluded many years ago, and there haven’t been many occasions since when I’ve had cause to change my mind. The all-time low was attending the last day of the cocker championship at Sandringham. Despite walking towards the front of the gallery (that’s the official term for the spectators) I didn’t see a thing: the action was close by, but it was entirely out of sight. The 2016 International Gundog League (IGL) Retriever Championship was held at Ampton, in Suffolk (Raise your glass to Beileys, 29 December). According to the IGL’s website, viewing on the Tuesday, the first day, was likely to be limited, so I went on the second day. At 8am I joined a crowd of about…

“I didn’t see any commercial fishing boat land as many squid as we did with the killer red jig” When the days are short, most men’s minds turn to firewood or shed hobbies or pheasant shooting or flytying. My mind meanders around squid jigs. I start to check out online shopping opportunities — jigs from China with flashing LED lights inside that light up when they make contact with seawater; glow-in-the-dark phosphorescent jigs that look like mini lavatory-chain handles with a row of sharp hooks around their base; or orange weighted prawn-shaped lures with a skintight fabric covering that has tiger stripes and two skirts of needle-sharp hooks. There are acrylic shiny ones, heavy bullet-shaped steel ones, ones with eye-catching holograms etched into their skins. Big ones, little ones, ones…

DOWNLOAD Triple Paralympic medalist Matt Skelhon has helped lead the development of the Shooting World Cup-SWC app, a new game available for download on Android and the Apple App Store that gives players the chance to take on virtual target shooting challenges. The game is free to download for practice shoots, with a small one-off fee to take part in monthly tournaments in which users can put their skills to the test against players around the globe. BUY Aficionados will be able to hang a piece of hunting history on their wall with one of three limited edition prints depicting the most famous adventures of revered conservationist and hunter Jim Corbett. John Rigby & Co is selling these numbered prints, signed by artist David Southgate, for £115 each. One shows…

BASC has appointed acclaimed chef Jose Souto as its second official food ambassador. He will be responsible for promoting the use of sustainably sourced wild food to the wider public through articles, videos and cookery demonstrations. Jose is chef-lecturer in the culinary arts at Westminster Kingsway College, London, and author of the book Venison: The Game Larder. He said: “I am honoured that BASC has asked me to become a food ambassador. “The promotion of game and sustainable food is a fundamentally important subject that I have striven to embed into the teaching of our student chefs. Many of them will go on to set food trends and promote game and sustainable food in their own right. Sustainable food and its provenance has become increasingly important over the past few…

“The handicap system means that everyone stands a chance of winning” What is the Handicap Challenge? It is an open, handicapped, 100-target, English Sporting championship held over 11 weeks, with the course built to a “par” score of 94 ex-100. The course, set by Royal Berkshire Shooting School (RBSS) instructors Robert Cross and Steven Turner, will include the renowned high tower as well as the exciting grouse sequence. The Handicap Challenge is a collaboration between the RBSS and Time Inc, publisher of Shooting Times, Sporting Gun and Shooting Gazette, as well as other selected sponsors. Standard Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA) rules apply including: no coaching during the competition, hearing and eye protection is mandatory and using a maximum 28g cartridge only. When and where does it take place, and…

“It must have been bitterly cold when even the warmth of the hay shed could not save the wrens” I am aware that there are now many residents of the countryside who are not “country” people, but my guess is that while many would struggle with identifying some species of birds, few of them would not know what a wren looked like. My research has revealed that the name is something of a mix of cultures, from old English to Germanic to Icelandic. The Icelandic one does not surprise me because my guide on my angling trips to Iceland has explained the similarity between many English and Icelandic words, no doubt linked to our common connections with the Norse invaders. There are hundreds of species of wren throughout the world,…

There is an unwritten rule that spectators in the gallery at gundog trials shouldn’t have their own non-competing dogs with them. This means that at an event such as the retriever championship there are a number of dogs left in cars. If you are going to be away from home all day (or longer) it is often easier to take your dogs with you. At this year’s championship a number of overseas visitors had brought their dogs with them and were planning some training with them while in England. Unfortunately, many of those dogs had to endure hours of being left in cars. I know that dogs don’t die in cold cars, but it is reasonable to assume that they get bored and uncomfortable when in such close confines for…

Plant: Silver birch Latin name: Betula pendula How to spot it and where to find it: With its distinctive silvery-white bark, the silver birch is a common sight in woodland on light soil, and especially acid heaths. At its maximum, the tree grows to about 30m and lives to 70-80 years, the bark becoming black and fissured with age. Its catkins appear early in spring and release their pollen in clouds, which are dispersed by the wind, during April. The small, roughly diamond-shaped leaves emerge shortly after. The tree is best planted in autumn or winter. Interesting facts: The national tree of Finland, silver birch can improve and condition the soil — its deep roots bring otherwise inaccessible nutrients into the tree, which are recycled on to the soil surface…

The organisers of the 2017 Game Fair are offering free entry for BASC members this summer. Held at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire from 28-30 July, the event, now in its 59th year, has pledged a return to its focus on countryside sports in 2017, with opportunities for visitors to try their hand at shooting and angling, along with the biggest group of fieldsports-related stands and businesses brought together in one place in the UK. James Gower, managing director of the Game Fair, said the offer is open to BASC members throughout the event. BASC recently announced that its membership rose to more than 148,000 in 2016, making this a great offer for a lot of people. “BASC is the UK’s largest shooting organisation, so this offer has the potential to…

BASC is helping North Yorkshire Police in the fight against poachers by stocking every police car in the force with a copy of its booklet on poaching and associated offences. A charity clay shoot at Bransford Manor in Worcestershire last year raised £63,000 for St Richard’s Hospice and Child Bereavement UK. The shoot was attended by around 120 Guns and 30 guests, all of whom were provided with lunch sponsored by Luke Johnson of Pizza Express fame and Patisserie Valerie through Penyard House of Ross-on-Wye. Bumblebees could be losing their distinctive buzz because of damage caused by neonicotinoid pesticides, according to researchers at Stirling University. The preliminary fi ndings of the study are expected to add weight to calls for a wider ban on neonicotinoids. Christopher and Adam Hoar, from…

A GOOD READ I was delighted to see a mention of the book The Wildfowler by Roger Moran (Letters, 14 December). It so happens that the book (below) was illustrated by my wife, Diana, with advice as to authenticity of wildfowling detail from me. Mr McHugh is right. It is a good read, but don’t expect to learn from it about choice of bore or shot size or any other practical matters relating to modern wildfowling. You will, however, read about the deadly nature of a punt-gun. E. Oxlade, Belfast HITTING A SNAG I read N. Whyte’s comments about being “penalised for being a left-handed Gun” (Letters, 14 December) with interest. As a fellow “leftie”, I face the same problem when it comes to finding a suitable gun. However, what…

“How can you turn away fare that is streets ahead of the pallid pink chicken that dominates the high street?” It is that time of the year again. No, I don’t mean Christmas past and its hyper-inflated commercialism, but the fact that my garden shed has once again been groaning for weeks under the weight of braced pheasants and duck. I should, I suppose, be a trifle less greedy but whenever I am offered a brace of birds at the end of a day’s shooting or picking-up, the primitive caveman syndrome kicks in. How can you turn away fare that will keep the family ticking over and is, by any food standard, streets ahead of the tasteless, pallid pink supermarket chicken flesh that dominates the high street? No, I tell…

Sharon Coby initially worked at a boarding kennels before going on to trial and train her own Labradors. “I started off with one, got placed with him a couple of times, then bought another puppy and was fortunate enough to make him up to field trial champion,” she said. “I now have his daughter, who is a field trial winner, and his son and granddaughter are in the kennels so his legacy lives on. But I have gone over to the dark side,” she admitted apologetically. “I’ve got five spaniels. I need them for dogging-in and then on shoot days.” Local woman Sharon helped run the shoot at nearby Walberswick. “I had three years here, then left, and now I have come back as headkeeper. It was a bit scary…

MAKE SURE YOU CAN FIND YOUR FERRET The importance of being able to find your ferret should never be underestimated. Mid-season we often see adverts for working ferrets, many after being lost in action, and they bring back an uncomfortable memory of an incident that happened to me not long ago. I was in some deep workings on the coast, in places beyond the capabilities of my ferret-finder, so caution had to be maintained. These warrens were not for the foolhardy. I worked many ferrets, but on one warren I was a ferret down. I could not find the jill anywhere and light was fading fast. I was an hour from home and had stupidly left behind the one piece of kit that was proving to be the most important…

“Rabbits were the mainstay of the roughshooter and keepers had to control rabbit numbers” Guy N. Smith is an author, writer, keen wildfowler and avid collector of cartridges, the more unusual the better We must not confuse the Midland Cartridge Company with the Midland Gun Company. Both were cartridge manufacturers, the latter having a sizeable subsidiary business with a huge output that was certainly greater than that of the former. The Midland Cartridge Company began as the Birmingham Gun & Cycle Co at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1924, doubtless having ceased making bicycles, it became the Birmingham Gun Company until the outbreak of war in 1939. Whether or not it ever built guns is unknown, and I have yet to come across one, or somebody who either…

Venison and pheasant can take robust flavours to make lovely winter dishes, says Nicola Jane Swinney Some people are nervous about cooking venison because, as the meat is naturally lean, it’s easy to dry it out and make it tough. Cooking it slowly in liquid keeps the meat moist, and using cranberry juice adds a sharp fruitiness. You can add any vegetables you have to hand — I thought the sweetness of parsnips would go well with venison and it does; but you could try carrots or even butternut squash. With the root veg and mushrooms, I didn’t think the dish needed much more than some buttery mashed potato — you could substitute half the potato for more parsnip if you like, for a lighter mash — but some savoy…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country BRUCE POTTS Shooting Times rifl e reviewer and stalker DAVID TOMLINSON Highly regarded writer and ornithologist LIAM BELL NGO chairman, 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…

Taking its name from La Perche, a former province of north-western France where the breed evolved, the Percheron has always been valued as a war horse, famous for its stamina and willing nature as much as its ability to pull a heavy gun carriage. Large numbers of Percherons were used in the US civil war and in 1900, hundreds were shipped from Britain for use in the Boer war. However, it was World War I in which the Percheron played its biggest role, with thousands killed on the Western Front. Standing between 16.2 and 17.3 hands, the Percheron is smaller than a shire, and a touch of Arab blood gives it a more refined head than other draught breeds. Grey and black horses are most popular, but other colours do…

 “ One of the RSPB’s vice-presidents had two criminal charges of disturbing a peregrine falcon’s nest dropped after prosecutors consulted the charity. The RSPB is now facing questions about its involvement in the decision to drop the charges against Sir John Lawton, 73, a former chairman of the society.” “Raptorphile websites scream blue murder if a gamekeeper gives a hawk a hard look” This was the introduction to a news report in The Times. It might be news to you because the story wasn’t widely reported; not even by those raptorphile websites that scream blue murder if a gamekeeper so much as gives a hawk a hard look. Perhaps this imbalance is something to do with living the concept of “post-truth”. “Post-truth” was voted word of the year 2016 by…