Innholdsfortegnelse for 04-Oct-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

Last week I went to Leicestershire. I am discovering that while places in England are never quite as lovely as those in Scotland, some of them are nice. The sweet little town of Oakham is one such. I desperately wish I had been there to cast a fly on Rutland Water then lie by the fire in a pub somewhere all afternoon. Regrettably, no angling was undertaken, no alcohol was drunk and no fires were lain by, but I still had a pretty inspiring time. I was visiting Corry Taylor, who designed the Schöffel jacket 25 years ago. Corry had a eureka moment one cold evening after spending a long day on a peg, shivering in a wax jacket. Why, he thought, should tradition be more important than comfort? Some…

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, Kensington, London Tel 01425 651025 29 OCTOBER AINTREE COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE RACE DAY CHARITY RACE Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool Tel 020 7840 9207 14–15 NOV KENNEL CLUB HPR CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 Elveden estate, Thetford, Norfolk www.thekennelclub.org.uk/HPRChampionship 22 NOVEMBER GWCT MACNAB BALL The Dorchester Hotel, Mayfair, London Tel 020 7290 0110…

Rodenticides not affecting owls A Barn Owl Monitoring Study, part of the research being undertaken by the UK Rodenticide Stewardship Regime, suggests that exposure to rodenticides has not affected breeding success. New tuberculosis service for farmers Defra is to fund a new TB Advisory Service, which will offer specialist advice to farmers in high-risk areas on how to combat bovine tuberculosis. Farmers wishing to register their interest in the service should email info@tbas.org.uk or tel 01306 779410. Royal opening for new Lintran home HRH The Princess Royal is visiting Lincolnshire later this month to open the new premises of dog transit box company Lintran K9. Directors Frank and Isobel Hopkins said: “We are thrilled that we can show her what we have achieved over 30 years, working with dogs and…

Wanton damage in badger cull zone I would like to make other shoots aware of what may happen if they are in a badger cull zone after what has happened to our small shoot. Last Sunday, my four-year-old daughter and I went down to our shoot, which has been run by our family for 30 years. We checked one pen and all was fine, came up across the field into the next and noticed a lot of poults wandering the hedges. This was a bit strange as they have held very tight to the pens. When we got to the next pen, we walked into the woods and immediately noticed the door flat on the floor. Then it hit me — so were the wire mesh and posts. The electric…

“Coveys of up to 20 grouse appear barely visible on the blue horizon making their way to the butts” The Ruabon Moors sit peacefully, almost silently, looking down upon the plains of Wrexham. However, these moors once boasted the record numbers of grouse per acre in Great Britain. According to the Williams-Wynn game book, an astounding 46,000 grouse were shot on the Ruabon Moors in the period from 1903 to 1913; even a certain Winston Churchill is mentioned in the pages. You can imagine the barrage of shots that would have echoed through Rhosllanerchrugog, the large village at the base of the moors, during the season. Overshooting throughout the 20th century, however, brought a dramatic decline to grouse numbers across all moors, but it wasn’t until 1983 that a severe…

At long last the shooting season is upon us, and the time has come to put both Remy the Labrador and Dolly the springer spaniel into the shooting field. At Twistmount I run a small syndicate shoot, and at the beginning of October we always have a “stir-up” day — I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to see how Remy coped with the excitement and pressure of a real shoot day. Dolly has been doing a lot of dogging-in, and on this first day I opted to leave her in the truck and concentrate on the young Labrador. I am quite happy that all the components of Remy’s training are in place; now it is a case of putting it all together and letting him gain in…

“Social media is key to the welfare of many keepers working in remote areas of the UK” The modern gamekeeper is an ever-adapting species. Having graduated from Newton Rigg College in May and progressed into a trainee gamekeeper role, working on grouse in the Angus Glens, this is a fact that I am all too aware of. The transition from student to full-time gamekeeper is difficult; along with the often long-distance move to your job, the new responsibilities can be daunting. This is the first real jump into life, and becoming completely independent involves managing many aspects of personal life that may not have been fully considered previously. I’ve found it extremely rewarding to be working in the job I trained for two years to do. The responsibilities I face…

Puppy catches the birds GUNDOG TRAINING Q I bought a working cocker puppy four years ago and trained him with the help of a few friends and a book or two. I took him shooting as soon as he was on the whistle at about nine months old and have worked him on shoots since then. This year he is chasing everything and catching birds if they do not flush quickly. Is it too late to get him back under control? A You have allowed his natural predatory hunting instincts to come to the fore and I therefore assume that his obedience to your commands has now ended. Once catching game or pegging becomes such a strong desire it is very difficult to correct in older dogs. Running-in is the…

Latin name: Sanguisorba minor Common name: Salad burnet Other names: Toper’s plant, pimpernelle, garden burnet How to spot it and where to find it: Salad burnet is an evergreen perennial herb that grows on chalk and limestone grasslands. It produces rounded, knobbly flower heads from May to September that are followed by burred fruit. The heads of green flowers first display red styles; later, long yellow stamens appear and hang from the lower flowers and the pollen is dispersed by the wind. Interesting facts: The herb’s leaflets, which grow in pairs, taste and smell like bitter cucumber and make a flavoursome addition to salads, dressings and summer drinks. In times past it was also used in herb beer. According to the 17th-century botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, medicinally the root…

Originating from an area of central France around the town of Limoges to the west of the Massif Central, the Limousin is, with the Charolais, one of the two major French beef breeds. The first pedigree bulls were imported into the UK in 1971: within 15 years the Limousin had become the dominant beef breed in the UK. The bulls are noted for their sound temperament, a reminder that this was once a draught breed. Sturdy and adaptable, the golden-red Limousin is popular in the UK both as a pedigree breed and as a beef sire for use with dairy and suckler herds. It is highly valued for maturing rapidly, producing an excellent ratio of lean meat to bone. However, the breed’s popularity is also based on the fact that…

“Without our state broadcaster, how many of us would even know who Chris Packham is?” The Countryside Alliance (CA) is hopping mad about the BBC’s apparent double standards. The corporation recently sanctioned a Radio 4 presenter, Dr Adam Rutherford, for bias in his personal tweets. Yet we all know the Beeb has a history of exonerating another presenter, Chris Packham. The CA makes a good point. It will be interesting to see whether the BBC continues to defend the indefensible when it gets round to responding to the latest complaints about Mr Packham. Though, like most of us, I believe Mr Packham’s exploitation of his publicly funded platform is deplorable and a breach of the BBC’s charter obligations, I also think we need to be careful to play the ball…

WIN Go online to po.st/ ShootingTimes HatsanComp and you’ll be in with a chance of winning a new Hatsan Escort semi-auto worth £478.50. We reviewed the gun in March and were impressed by its reliability and versatility, offering smooth shooting in the hide or on the foreshore. We are now hosting a prize draw in collaboration with UK importer Edgar Brothers to help you get your hands on one too. Good luck! ENTER Christmas is already in the air as the Countryside Alliance Christmas Cash Raffle is under way, with prizes as high as £10,000 to be won. Tickets cost £1 and proceeds will help to support the work of the Countryside Alliance in protecting the rural way of life. To enter, visit http://raffle.countryside-alliance.org by 30 November. EAT If you…

1 Holland Cooper St James waistcoat £259 www.hollandcooper.com A tailored waistcoat made from British woven wools and fully lined with tweed facing. Featuring a five-button front and a four-pocket detail, it can be paired with a matching jacket to complete the look or worn as a standalone piece. It is available in a range of patterns and in sizes 36in-42in. 2 Orvis RT7 quilted waistcoat £129 www.orvis.co.uk This lightweight, onion-quilted waistcoat provides plenty of warmth and would make an ideal pairing with a good shirt or jumper. It has an easy-to-clean polyester exterior and a pop of colour with its orange interior that adds a little style for the fashion conscious. Available in sizes M-XXL. 3 DJ Red Stag mouth call £49.99 www.bushwear.co.uk This collaboration between Bushwear and US-based DJ…

BASC has appointed a new chief executive, due to join the team in February 2018. Ian Bell, a brigadier in the British Army, will take up the role at BASC when his current deployment as Commander British Forces Germany comes to an end. Mr Bell has a huge enthusiasm for fieldsports and first joined BASC as a Young Shot. He is currently president of the British Forces Germany Game Shooting Association and a long-standing member of the Defence Deer Management Organisation. “It is a huge honour and privilege to be appointed chief executive of an organisation which has worked over many, many years to protect and promote shooting,” he said. “I am passionate about shooting and fieldsports and determined to ensure the association remains at the forefront of the UK’s…

DINING IN This photograph of a sparrowhawk feeding on a kill (right) was taken in my garden. My wife and I are — and have been for a number of years — avid readers and have trained our two Labradors following the advice in the gundog section of the magazine. G. Allan, by email HELD IN TRUST I wonder how many readers are members of the National Trust? All who are will have been sent voting papers for the coming general meeting, which includes a resolution from a group of anti-fieldsports members to ban trail hunting, exempt hunting and hound exercise on National Trust land (Sharpshooter, 12 September). I am delighted that the Trust board recommends voting against this resolution, and I hope that supportive members will use their right…

We already have genetic tests for a variety of afflictions that can affect Labradors, and we might have another one soon. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered a genetic variation in Labradors that, they suspect, makes some individuals obsessed with food. The research was led by Dr Eleanor Raffan, who said: “This is a common genetic variation in Labradors and it has a significant effect on those dogs that carry it, so it is likely that this explains why Labradors are more prone to being overweight than other breeds.” The Cambridge researchers did warn, however, that any bid to get rid of the rogue gene might also get rid of the Labrador personality we all know and love. Labradors with less interest in food might well become more…

“Sheep had eaten the body parts of at least 680 live Arctic tern chicks” If you were to jot down a list of British mammals that might predate the eggs or chicks of a ground-nesting bird, I doubt that you would include sheep, cattle or deer, but some will do just that, probably to alleviate deficiencies in essential minerals, such as calcium. According to Defra, there are around 23.1million sheep and 9.8million cattle in the UK. Wild deer populations are at their highest for more than 1,000 years and numbers continue to rise. Getting an accurate assessment of deer numbers is challenging because deer are secretive and highly mobile, but the Deer Initiative estimates around 2million deer in the UK. If you tot that lot up, it is around 35million…

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…

Though our coal tits are sedentary in nature, they will move around locally in search of food, with varying numbers turning up at garden feeders. Research by the British Trust for Ornithology has shown that there is a correlation between the amount of beechmast produced by beech trees and observations in gardens, with far more coal tits making use of supplementary foods in years with less seed. Coal tits are hoarders, like jays and nuthatches, and you may see them flying back and forth between a feeder and a favourite hiding place. If sunflowers start growing in your hanging baskets or among your patio plants you will know who to blame. Coal tits are much smaller than blue tits and seem more susceptible to periods of cold weather, with numbers…