Innholdsfortegnelse for 27-Sep-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered the Sussex Downs. For a Scotsman, the word “pub” conjures up an image of an austere draughty room with a three-bar electric fire in the corner and a dour landlord who treats your presence as a major inconvenience. The White Horse, the little place in Chilgrove where I was staying, was a pub of a different nature. The food was superb, the service was better and the little jug of milk they left outside my room in the morning was the perfect hangover cure. I was there for a simulated day. At supper the night before the shoot, I sat next to a lady from Glasgow who partied like she was 20 but told me she was more than three times that. She…

30 SEPT – 1 OCT AUTUMN GAME FAIR South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex Tel 01444 892700 30 SEPT – 1 OCT SOUTH YORKSHIRE SHOOTING SHOW & GAME FAIR Doncaster Exhibition Centre, South Yorkshire Tel 01274 548342 1 OCTOBER GWCT SOUTH-EAST SCOTLAND CLAY SHOOT Bisley Braidwood, Selkirk, Scottish Borders Tel 01835 822250 6 – 8 OCTOBER BRITISH SHOOTING SHOTGUN GRAND FINAL 2017 Fauxdegla Shooting Ground, Wrexham Tel 01628 488800 7 OCTOBER BASC INTRODUCTION TO WOODPIGEON SHOOTING Lime Kiln Cottage, Barton, North Yorkshire www.basc.org.uk/events 12 OCTOBER FARMER CLUSTER CONFERENCE The Royal Geographical Society, London Tel 01425 651025…

Win a Hatsan Escort One lucky Shooting Times reader will win a Hatsan Escort semi-automatic shotgun in our new competition. We reviewed the gun in March and were impressed. We are now hosting a prize draw to win one and it couldn’t be simpler to enter. Just visit po.st/ ShootingTimesHatsanComp and fill in the details. Good luck! Keith still sticking at it 18 years later Helmsley’s famous Stick Man is celebrating 18 years in business. Keith Pickering, based in the North Yorkshire town, is one of the nation’s biggest suppliers of stick-making materials and tools and has provided walking sticks for countrymen, royalty and movies including Nanny McPhee. He first appeared in Shooting Times in 2002 and admits he didn’t expect to still be at it: “I thought interest from…

Having read Liam Stokes’s informative piece regarding the proposed reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx (The lynx effect, 6 September), I have many misgivings. Nobody seems to consider the viability of such a project through the eyes of the lynx — a noble and secretive creature that has evolved into an apex predator. However, it became extinct in the seventh century. Why? The estimated human population then had far less impact on natural infrastructure and resources; northern England, Wales and Scotland even less so and were quite remote. Yet still the lynx became extinct. As a child I was taken to see the lions at Longleat and had a window sticker to prove it. Lynx back in the UK would be a similar scenario, needing overseeing for their well-being so they…

“Instead of a blaze of purple, whole hillsides are covered in grey, dead vegetation” Many a moor has already had some superb bags and, given the numbers, the season has some way to run. I have a feeling there will be some exceptional end-of-season shooting to be had this year for those who wait for such things. However, given the interest in taking days it might pay not to wait too long before getting your name on the list. Despite the excellent bags already in the book for this season, some moors have had to modify their drives, and indeed days, because of yet one more of Mother Nature’s little friends. Heather beetle has devastated sizeable areas of some moors, large enough to encompass whole drives. In some cases more…

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,…

With its wonderfully rich, red coat, the Devon is often known as the ruby of the west. It is a handsome, early-maturing beef breed, long valued for its hardiness and ability to withstand the wet and humid weather of north Devon. The breed’s origins are on the moors of Exmoor and the surrounding hills, and for centuries it has been the dominant cow in west Somerset and north Devon. Today, the Devon has regained some of its former popularity in its native county and there are a number of fine pedigree herds to be seen on and around Exmoor. Devons have been widely exported around the world, where they have proved to be as tolerant of hot climates as they are of wet ones. Originally bred as a draught animal,…

REGISTER The public is invited to help clean up the nation’s waterways next month for the Great River Rescue. Environmental groups Thames21, the Marine Conservation Society, the Angling Trust and the Canal & River Trust have organised the campaign and groups are invited to register their river clean-up events at www.thames21.org.uk right away to raise awareness. VOTE The Countryside Alliance (CA) is urging National Trust members to vote to preserve trail-hunting on Trust land ahead of a motion to ban it brought by the League Against Cruel Sports. CA head of hunting Polly Portwin said: “It is vital that those supporters who want to protect the future of trail-hunting vote against the members’ resolution by 13 October. We cannot overestimate the importance of Trust members using their vote to support…

1 Barbour Rydal jacket £199  www.barbour.com This hooded jacket is ideal for those rainy days in the field. It features a comfortable quilted lining, two zipped welt pockets, ribbed inner wind cuffs, studded inner patch pocket and an adjustable shock cord at the hem and hood. 2 Baleno Kensington women’s coat RRP £199.95  www.ardmoor.co.uk A three-quarter length, waterproof coat, modelled on the classic outback drovers style, that is designed to protect your body from the elements. Made from durable fabric, the handy zip in the adjustable hood adds further protection. The Baleno interchangeable lining system allows you to add a zip-in fleece on colder days. 3 Brandecosse Cervo boots £299  www.brandecosse.com These waterproof leather country boots offer excellent sure-footed reliability thanks to the combination of Vibram Teton sole and super-secure…

“Henry Jones never capitalised on his invention and went bankrupt in 1866” There were enormous changes in sporting firearms technology in the 19th century. In 100 years the typical game gun was transformed from a flintlock muzzle-loader using loose ammunition components to a breechloading centrefire ejector that fired a self-contained cartridge. But many sportsmen stuck to the type of gun they shot well with, irrespective of whether it was technically obsolescent. So it was possible to see a shooting party where the major types of firearm system were represented at the same time. I am reminded of Daniel Higson’s book Seafowl Shooting Sketches, published in 1887, which describes three men out shooting gulls with a muzzle-loader, a pinfire and a centrefire hammergun. Some conservative and thrifty sportsmen availed themselves of…

“It does resemble a springer and is the most spaniel-like of the German gundogs” “WHAT’S THAT DOG, some sort of giant spaniel?” My questioner was pointing to a large, longhaired black-and-white dog with an impressive white flag of a tail. The answer was no, it is a large Munsterlander. This is a breed that we can be forgiven for misidentifying because it is a rarity in this country, despite the fact that the first examples were imported as long ago as 1971, and the breed society, the Large Munsterlander Club, was established the following year. In appearance the large Munsterlander does resemble a large black-and-white springer, for this is the most spaniel-like of all the German breeds of gundog that we have in this country. Of its German cousins, it…

Latin name: Agaricus silvaticus Common name: Blushing wood mushroom Other names: Scaly wood mushroom, red-staining mushroom, pinewood mushroom How to spot it and where to find it: This is a fairly common woodland fungus and is one of a group of mushrooms that look worryingly similar. Luckily, the one closest in appearance to it, the Agaricus haemorroidarius, is also edible and grows in deciduous woods, rather than the coniferous habitat that the silvaticus prefers — silvaticus means “of woods”. It has a cap of 5cm to 10cm in diameter, which is covered in brown fibrous scales. Its rather crowded gills are off-white, turning grey to red to dark brown. The stem of the young mushroom is white, darkening to a pale greyish tan as it matures. It has a skirt…

The Kennel Club has stressed the importance of correctly filling out the entry forms to its competitive events after it reported an increase in the number of disqualifications. The organisation says that it is especially important that competitors enter their dog only in the category or class for which it is eligible and has highlighted that a number of awards had to be disqualified in the past year due to entrants providing incorrect information. Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club secretary, said: “In this fast-moving digital age, we hope that the way awards are processed at the Kennel Club will become more streamlined in the foreseeable future. But we need competitors to do their bit and help in this process. With fewer errors in catalogues, we hope to get to the stage…

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI SAVE WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE I heartily agree with P. Fraser (Letters, 13 September). I deplore the use of scarce finance and the intellectual energy required for reintroduction. So many species of wildlife are on the Red List or are of conservation concern. They are our responsibility and should have priority for these resources. Ms Fraser’s example of the Scottish wildcat is a supreme case. Why introduce another predator when we have already failed to eradicate an invasive species, the American mink? M. Bernard, East Sussex JOINING FORCES I read with interest A. J. H. Pilkington’s points…

“Picking out the lowest flyer, I fire both shots in quick succession. The drake flies on” “It’s not smoking,” says the Yorkshireman, passing an old wooden pipe across the table, “it’s an art.” I pack down the tobacco, tilt the bowl and watch the leaves start to smoulder. Twenty seconds later, the glow fades and half an hour on, after innumerable attempts — fingertips burned and eye lashes singed — I put the pipe back among the others and admit defeat. Grisedale, as his second wife calls him, looks momentarily saddened then launches back into recounting fierce battles he fought with local poachers “in more boisterous times when you could still punch a man”. With his beehives to tend and a private pack of foxhounds to hunt, I don’t imagine…

“Cold, wet chicks need to be brooded by their parents but warm ones can soak up the sun” Climate change is a vastly underrated issue in the British countryside. There is no doubt that parts of this country are now significantly wetter than they were previously, and statistics show that western Scotland receives 25 per cent more rain than it did in the 1960s. This is just an average, and it scarcely captures the misery of extended wet periods such as the summer of 2012 when spring folded sadly into autumn in a relentless spray of water. However you choose to explain it, there is no question that some parts of Britain are becoming significantly soggy. This has direct knock-on effects for wild game in the hills, not least because…

Earlier this month the Kennel Club held the official opening of the Emblehope and Burngrange estate (News, 13 September), which it aims to develop “as a centre of excellence to support a wide range of working dog and shooting activities”. You won’t be surprised to know that neither I nor Shooting Times were invited to the event but the Club has an uneasy relationship with any journalist who dares question or criticise it, something of which I’m afraid I have been guilty. However, I wish the Club every success with this bold and exciting venture. The 7,550-acre estate cost several million pounds and not everyone on the Club’s ruling council was in favour. Whatever the critics may have said, there was no question that the Club could afford the estate,…

Borrowing a shotgun GUN LAW Q I have noted with pleasure recent changes in the law over borrowing shotguns. I allow a local pigeon shooter to shoot over my farm, and he would like to bring his 16-year-old son with him and lend him his gun for use under supervision. I am quite happy with this, but see that I need to provide him with written authority to lend his gun to another person. Do you have any advice on what form that written authority should take? A It is expected that Home Office guidance will be updated later this year to take account of recent changes in the law, and that this will in due course offer firm advice on this matter. Meanwhile, I suggest that you write a…

The pintail is a graceful species; the female is sleek of line and the male is stunning. When feeding, they use their long necks to access seeds, plant material and invertebrates from the bottom of shallow lakes and flooded fields. The vast majority of pintail arrive from the east, some getting here quite early and others joining them if the weather becomes really cold on the other side of the North Sea. A small number of Icelandic breeders also arrive from the north-west. According to Wetland Bird Survey counts, organised by the British Trust for Ornithology in partnership with the JNCC and the RSPB, the number of wintering pintail rose strongly for the 30 years through to the winter of 2005-06 but dropped quite sharply through to 2012-13. Numbers have…

In the US, members of the public are prohibited from being in possession of a gun in a national park. The idea is that national parks should be something like true wilderness areas, unsullied by humans. Activities such as forestry and fieldsports are banned and hardly anybody is allowed to live within park boundaries. Yet, as so often, this “leaving it all to nature” approach turns out to be a tad unrealistic. Take the example of Grand Canyon National Park, in Arizona. Here, the National Park Service (NPS) has recently decided that there are too many bison. It has worked out that it needs to cull the current population of 600 bison down to 200 in the interests of a sustainable habitat. According to USA Today, wildlife experts fear the…