Innholdsfortegnelse for 19-Jul-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

The bird dropped where the water met the land and I watched it rise and fall on the Hebridean tide. When the sun came up, we wandered across the salting and I wondered whether the woodcock in my hand had flown all the way across the sea from Scandinavia. I have always felt a funny sort of excitement tinged with guilt and regret about shooting the little waders. Yet, when you think about it more deeply, it becomes clear that those who shoot should feel pride as they watch woodcock flit through the treetops. As Andrew Hoodless states in his excellent piece this week (p.22), the breed only really established itself on these islands after large-scale tree planting was undertaken in response to growing enthusiasm for driven sport. In more…

BASC buys historic shotgun BASC has preserved a piece of its own shooting history by buying a 12-bore shotgun linked to founder Stanley Duncan. The gun, bought at a Bonhams auction, was made in 1935 and inscribed with the words “Stanley Duncan and Sons Gun Makers”. Bill Harriman, BASC’s director of firearms, said: “We bought it because we are trying to preserve wildfowling and English shooting heritage and I think it’s important to have a gun that we know has a strong association with our founder. Even though it wasn’t his personal gun, it was sold by his shop and I am certain he would have handled it. It’s a big, meaty gun. It would be wonderful for firing a few shots on the marsh. It’s not very worn. The…

Ican’t explain why it is such a thrill to own a gun that was previously owned by someone famous. To me, it just boils down to shaking hands with history. In the Holts June auction, there was a gun that once belonged to Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bt. The gun is a 12-bore James Purdey & Sons sidelock ejector, No 14,520, made for Sir Ralph in 1892 as the No 2 to a pair. Sir Ralph described Purdey as “the Emperor of Gunmakers”, so it is no wonder that he went to Purdey to make it. The gun had 30in Whitworth steel barrels, but these were shortened to 28in in 1934. The fences are finely chiselled with acanthus leaves, “scroll detonating” as Purdey’s records would have it. That is the gun,…

“Wrens have been having an easy time over the past few decades” When Population Estimates of Birds in Great Britain and the United Kingdom was published in the journal British Birds in 2013, there were two perhaps surprising statistics in the summary of its contents. Andy Musgrove and his fellow authors revealed that there were thought to be about 84million pairs of birds in the UK, with one in 10 of these being a pair of wrens. Let’s put these totals into context. With only 84million pairs of breeding birds in the UK, that is about 1.3 pairs for every man, woman and child in the country — and that includes seabirds on remote islands. That is really not very many. In our fairly average village garden, we have about…

Some years ago we had a friend’s cavalier King Charles spaniel staying with us in July so she accompanied us, with our springers, to the Game Fair. The fact that the fair was at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and she was a Blenheim cavalier seemed appropriate (red-and-white cavaliers are known as Blenheims). She was an attractive little dog, but what was memorable was how many people stopped to remark on her and tell us their experiences of cavaliers. As the name suggests, cavaliers have been around for a very long time. King Charles II was enthusiastic about the breed and there are many contemporary paintings of the King and his family that show small spaniels looking very much like the dogs we know today. However, it wasn’t until 1928 that…

“All of us will have increased the biodiversity on our shoots during the past 12 months” Something gamekeepers are not always good at (and I include myself in this) is explaining to people what we do and, more importantly, how what we do benefits the environment. Small-scale things — putting up an owl box, the nesting success of a pair of waders, the planting of a shelter belt, things that are no less important than the larger landscape-scale projects — should be talked about with pride and promoted. They all help wildlife, everything we do counts and all of us will have increased the biodiversity on our shoots in some way or another during the past 12 months. What we need to do, of course, is get better at telling…

Next-generation flyfisher FISHING Q I was introduced to flyfishing by my father and have subsequently fished all my life. My own daughter is now 10, and she is showing an interest in the sport. Do you have any tips on taking her flyfishing and keeping her hooked (if you will pardon the pun)? A Make it fun — don’t fish too hard or too long. The sport is called “fishing” and not “catching”; emphasise that even the most experienced anglers have blank days when no fish come to the net. Don’t start her off at the deep end where a certain amount of stealth or technique is required; there are easy waters around. Half a day on a “pout and trout” lake is a perfect introduction to flicking a fly.…

moult. Young birds are having to fend for themselves, looking for their own worms and raiding the first berry-bearing trees and bushes for fruit. As autumn approaches, some adults and juveniles will migrate south to countries such as Spain and Portugal; others will move to warmer parts of the British Isles or choose not to fly anywhere. A recent survey by British Trust for Ornithology volunteers suggests that there are fewer than 1million song thrushes in the UK in winter, compared with 8.6million redwings. Given that the song thrush breeding population is more than 1million pairs, either most song thrushes leave the country in the autumn or perhaps they are secretive — and therefore hard to count — during the winter months. The breeding season is over for most song…

LOOK FOR LOVE Sara Cox (below) is to host a new six-part BBC series called Love in the Countryside, in which she will help men and women living and working in rural areas across the UK to find their perfect partner. But the catch is that they will be sent on dates with city dwellers who want to embrace the outdoors. Ms Cox said: “As a farmer’s daughter living in the capital I’m really excited about uniting rural folk with people from the city. I can’t wait to journey over hill and dale through Britain’s glorious countryside on my mission to help love blossom for the people who work the land, lovingly tend their animals but may have neglected their own hearts.” Eight rural singletons have already been selected, so…

1 William Evans St James shotgun RRP: from £17,250 Stand No: G1042 Having teamed up with Perazzi, a brand known for its workmanship, William Evans will unveil its latest St James shotgun at this year’s Game Fair. The improvements to the stock combined with the characteristic William Evans engraving make this a noticeable upgrade from the 2008 version. Available in any calibre, each gun is made to the client’s measurements and specifications. 2 Skinner’s premium working dog food RRP: £25.99 Stand No: D514 If your dog isn’t happy with the run of the mill there is good news: Skinner’s has produced a dog food that even the fussiest eater will appreciate. The larger and crunchier biscuit and easily digestible chicken in this Field & Trial Large Bite bag are exactly…

“The Game Fair is our countryside’s Wimbledon or FA Cup Final” Give or take two or three cancellations due to flooding, I’ve hardly missed a Game Fair in the past 35 years. Each has been special for very different reasons. But baking hot, wet or windy, there has forever been one constant: the droves of folk who turn up every July to enjoy one of the best shows on earth. There might be a welter of local and regional country shows each summer, but they don’t come close to matching the Game Fair. It is our countryside’s very own Wimbledon or FA Cup Final; a fun-filled occasion of national importance for followers of fieldsports that never fails to draw a great mix of people. Game Fair diehards with eyes set…

“Falconry wasn’t just sport. It was a day out with the lads and a workout at the gym” Mary, Queen of Scots, tourists from the US in a field north of Hadrian’s Wall and a man in a bakery checking out a sparrow problem may be an unlikely roll call, but they all have something in common — a fascination with the original hand-held device, the falcon. We use falconry terms every day without even realising it. Ever felt fed up? So does the peregrine that has eaten enough. Know an old codger? He gets his name from the Old French term for the man who carries hawks. Napoleon Bonaparte called Britain a nation of shop-keepers, but a better description might have been a nation of falconers. Dive into the…

Sixty years is a long time to be in any profession. Nowadays, you can get let off for both murder and marriage in a fraction of the time. But gamekeeping can inspire a certain kind of dedication and it is not unusual for some to stay in a role for many years. For Paul Cockings, who turns 76 in October and celebrates his sixth decade as a gamekeeper this month, there are certainly no regrets. “I have known what I wanted to be since I was about 13 years old. I wanted the outdoor life and to work among nature. I never looked back from that day to this,” says Paul. “My first job was at Odell Castle estate in Bedfordshire, which was about six miles away from my house.…

“A keen grouse man always wears plus fours, shirt and tie; ‘properly dressed’ out of respect for the quarry” As an underkeeper, starting out 25 years ago, Jamie Osborne knew he had made it the day a tailor came around to measure him up for his first shooting suit. “It was a milestone in my career,” he says. “I thought, ‘wow, I’ve finally made it. I’m actually having an estate tweed made for me.’ That was a defining moment, having that suit made up.” The shooting suit that we think of today — jacket, waistcoat and plus fours — has barely shifted with the times over the past century, says tailor Charlie Baker-Collingwood, who founded Henry Herbert in 2008 to continue the tradition of fine English tailoring at affordable prices.…

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 rifle 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 Times,…

Looking as if it is experiencing a bad hair day, the frizzle chicken carries a gene that produces the characteristic curly or frizzled feathers that give the breed its name. The feathers curl away from the body rather than lying flat. Breeding of frizzles requires a simple knowledge of genetics, as not all offspring inherit the frizzle gene. While there is a breed called the frizzle, frizzling can also occur in a number of other breeds, including the cochin, Polish and the Pekin. In Australia there is even a chicken known as a sizzle — a cross between a cochin and a silkie but with the frizzle gene. The true fizzle is a hardy, docile breed and the hens are generally good layers and good broodies too. They are most…

22 JULY NGO NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM TEAM CLAY SHOOT Stotley Grange Farm, Barnard Castle Tel 01833 660869 24-27 JULY ROYAL WELSH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY SUMMER SHOW Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd, Powys Tel 01982 553683 28-30 JULY THE GAME FAIR Hatfield House, Hertfordshire Tel 01707 252707 4 AUGUST HOLT’S CHARITY CLAY SHOOT AND AUCTION Sandringham estate, Norfolk Tel 01485 542822 5 AUGUST FEMMES FATALES CHARITY CLAY SHOOT Oxfordshire Shooting School, Oxfordshire Tel 07876 033665 28 AUGUST GAVIN GARDINER AUCTION OF MODERN & VINTAGE SPORTING GUNS Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Perthshire Tel 01798 875300…

One lucky family will be kitted out in the new Seeland Ragley tweed. Shooting Times and Seeland are offering a family of three the chance to win a jacket and breeks for Dad, Mum and child worth £1,080. The new for Autumn/Winter 2017 Seeland Ragley family tweed in Moss Check is traditional yet hard-wearing, fully waterproof and stylish. Available in Men’s, Ladies and Kids, this suit has something for every member of the family. Ragley is a range of classic shooting garments in Tweed. Tweed is associated with many long-standing traditions that the Ragley range upholds, but the suits have also been designed to be functional and durable. The Tweed is Scotchgard™ DWR treated so it is dirt repellent and does not absorb water in the heavy English downpours we…

“If Donald Trump were a crustacean, he’d be a signal crayfish... they don’t make friends — they eat friends” If Donald Trump were a crustacean, he would be a signal crayfish. These thick-skinned, voracious, pugnacious, armour-plated and totally self-serving creatures don’t make friends — they eat friends. After the US versions were introduced to Britain in the 1970s, instead of learning to live alongside our native crayfish, which are smaller, more timid and more “gentlemanly”, the invaders simply ate our native species. Ate them and then ate their babies. In fact, they ate everybody’s babies — including their own. Signals took over the native European crayfish’s habitat and, just for good measure, infected any remaining living natives with an Aids-like crayfish plague to which European crayfish have no immunity. Signal…

“The standard isn’t as high as you might think, and you stand a chance of winning a rosette or two” SINCE MY FIRST Game Fair in 1970 at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, I have been to more Game Fairs than I care to remember, and apart from the times when the event was abandoned due to waterlogged ground I have hardly missed a year. Though I have enjoyed them all, memories of individual fairs have now largely blurred into one. No, I haven’t got memory loss but one fair is much like another. I have usually been accompanied by a dog or two, but this year I shall be dogless, which will make my visit to Hatfield House in Hertfordshire much more relaxing. However, not having a dog with me does…

“The name comes from two words — ‘bil’ meaning buttock and ‘tong’ for tongue. Best not to dwell on this” Ah, venison. How much you end up with depends a lot on the prevalent species on your ground. For me that is roe and often, even with these neatly compact deer, I still find myself with a lack of freezer space because it is full of home-grown pork. With a family less than enthusiastic about venison — they eat a lot of game — this leaves me with a problem. I love to make salami with venison, but for the past couple of winters I have been making biltong by the fire. This South African spiced dried meat can be made with pretty much any game, but venison is best.…

“The hedgehog does more good than harm and it is no enemy to the gamekeeper” Yap, yap, yap. It was dusk and the little black lurcher — a cross between a Fell terrier and bearded collie, so I nominate her a lurcher — was setting up a din on the lawn. On investigation the cause was found to be a tiny prickly ball defying the dog to attempt more than futile barking. It was a hedgehog, but smaller than a tennis ball and obviously disorientated. The only practical answer was online advice from a hedgehog rescue centre. The recommendation was a warm hot water bottle and a woollen hat into which the tiny animal could snuggle, plus goats’ milk every two to three hours — a demand that could not…

1 BARRELS 30in Damascus barrels, blackpowder proof, no choke. 2 STOCK Straight-hand stock, fairly wide-cut chequering, crab joint between stock and fore-end. 3 ACTION Break-open action with single bite on doll’s head extension engaging with Westley Richards’ patent top-lever. 4 DECORATION Fine scroll engraving, “New Bond Street, London” address on barrels. WHAT TO LOOK FOR Barrels: Always check for pitting, dents or bulges. Action: Check tightness of barrels on the action and condition of the hammers. Cracked or repaired pinfire hammers are expensive to replace. Weight: 6lb 3oz Value: About £4,000 William Westley Richards first set up in business in 1812 when the gun world was still that of the muzzle-loader. As a company at the forefront of firearms development, Westley Richards…

Latin name: Juniperus communis Common name: Juniper How to spot it and where to find it: This deciduous shrub thrives on chalk downland, moorland and rocky areas as well as the acidic soil of old pine woodland. Its bark is greyish brown and peels with age — the juniper can live for 200 years — and the needle-like leaves are blue-green, with a silver band on the inner side. Common juniper is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers grow on separate trees. Male flowers are yellow, while the female produces the “berries”, which are actually fleshy cones and ripen from pale green to black. Interesting facts: Juniper berries are famously used to flavour gin — the word comes from genièvre or jenever, the French and Dutch words for juniper…

“SNH says ancient woodland is being damaged by the deer and is threatening to impose a cull” In the febrile politics swirling around deer in Scotland, there used to be a single point of clarity: sporting estates were A Bad Thing. At least, this was according to the BBC, many Scottish politicians and the nature conservation establishment. You could argue about the finer points of land reform, but there was overarching agreement among the so-called “progressives” that the owners of sporting estates were the enemy. Now, however, the old certainty has been rocked by a clash between Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the North Assynt estate. Nothing exceptional in argy-bargy between a Highland estate and SNH, you might say. But this ain’t any old estate. North Assynt estate, in the…