Innholdsfortegnelse for 29-Jun-2016 i Shooting Times & Country

It will take time for the far-reaching implications of the referendum result to become clear, but there is no doubt that the countryside will see huge change in the coming years. So much of our legislation relating to wildlife came from Brussels and in filling the gap it is hoped that both government and non-governmental organisations seize the opportunity to create sensible home-grown laws that recognise the value of shooting. There is a great opportunity to shape policy for the good of shooting, the environment and the rural community, which will in turn benefit society as a whole. Back on the ground, we are excited to have the first barn owl chicks on our little roughshoot. We saw an adult in the box in the second year it was put…

Peter Glenser was elected chairman of BASC at the association’s Annual General Meeting in Chester on Saturday, 18 June. John Thornley was elected vice-chairman and Oliver McCullough was elected chairman of the executive and finance committee. All were elected unanimously. The results of this year’s BASC Council election were announced at the AGM. Four candidates stood for the national seat, with Cara Richardson taking the majority. The election for the English national seat was uncontested and therefore Robin Marshall-Ball was elected unopposed. New Council chairman Peter Glenser said: “I would like to thank all of the members who took the time to attend this year’s AGM and again congratulate all of our award winners. “All of us on Council would like to welcome our new members. Cara and Robin bring…

2 - 3 JULY COTSWOLD SHOW & FOOD FESTIVAL Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire Tel 01285 652007 5 JULY OXFORDSHIRE SHOOT WALK Heythrop, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire Tel 07785 308282 7 JULY SHOTGUN SAFETY OFFICER COURSE DBC Leisure, Trowgreen Farm, Trowgreen, Lydney, Gloucestershire Tel 01244 573018 9 -10 JULY KNEBWORTH COUNTRY SHOW Knebworth House, Knebworth, Hertfordshire Tel 01438 812661 12-14 JULY GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire Tel 01423 541000 19 JULY FREE NGO RIFLE RANGE TEST DAY Euston Estate, Euston, Suffolk Tel 01833 660869…

I went with my family, including our cocker spaniel, on the Saturday of the Field & Country Fair. It was quite wonderful to attend a fair that was so true to country hobbies and it was thoroughly enjoyed by us all, dog included. It was noticeable that stallholders and those doing the displays, as well as those working on the site, were full of enthusiasm and more than happy to engage in conversation. Nothing seemed rushed and over-commercialised. The fair certainly wasn’t too crowded and it was delightful to have space to walk around and take in the great mix of country crafts that were actively being displayed, as diverse as taxidermy and hedge laying. Being a lover of working dogs, seeing so many well-behaved breeds being walked, displayed in…

It was great to see so manyShooting Times readers at the Field & Country Fair at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire over the weekend of 10 to 12 June. It is a privilege to write for this magazine and it was really good to meet so many keen pigeon shooters who follow Sporting Gun’s Peter Theobald andShooting Gazette’s Will Garfit pages as well as my pieces, and who came over to meet us. Though it is not yet a big show, it is early days and this was its first year. Many of the exhibitors enjoyed great success in a fantastic atmosphere, surrounded by keen like-minded fieldsports enthusiasts. It really demonstrated how far the CLA Game Fair had moved from its roots. Game fairs are not about buying hot tubs or…

The saying “blind as a bat” is misleading as they have excellent eyesight. A common pipistrelle weighs between 3.5g and 8.5g, or just less than a wren. Bats use a highly developed form of sonar to locate prey. The greater horseshoe bat uses its nose as a megaphone to broadcast pulsed sounds, while a Daubenton’s bat opens its mouth to emit clicks. Britain’s bats are largely resident, but pipistrelles in eastern Europe may migrate many hundreds of miles to warmer wintering grounds. Bats usually hibernate in damp caves old buildings or holes in trees, often huddling together to conserve heat. Britain’s rarest bat is the greater mouse-eared: occasional individuals are recorded in roosts here, but they may be migrants from the continent. Bats, for their size, are the longest-living mammals.…

Expanding oystercatchers BIRDLIFE Q I have always associated oystercatchers with the seashore, but in recent years we have been enjoying an increasing number of visits from these handsome birds on our Norfolk shoot. It is more than 40 miles from the coast. Last year a pair even nested for the first time. Is this unusual? A Oystercatchers have been moving inland as breeding birds in East Anglia in the past 30 years, following the example of birds in Scotland and the north of England. In Norfolk the current breeding range closely follows the county’s major rivers, but with many pairs also nesting in Broadland and in the unforested parts of Breckland. Recent studies have shown the Scottish population to have fallen by 29 per cent in recent years, in contrast…

Many wildfowlers, birdwatchers and countryside enthusiasts will already be familiar with the term “pinion”, which refers to the outer part of a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. The origin of the word is late middle English and derives from the old Frenchpignon meaning “feather”, itself based on the Latinpinnaorpenna. What may be less well known is the term “pin”. This refers to the tiny pin feather, one of which is found at the base of the first primary feather of each of a bird’s wing. All birds have them, though they are particularly associated with the woodcock. Four woodcock pin feathers on a green background form the insignia of the Shooting Times Woodcock Club. With a white, pointed tip, the woodcock pin feather was a valued possession of watercolour…

Interest in gamekeeping as a vocation is flying high, according to Scotland’s rural colleges. Lecturers at North Highland College (UHI), SRUC Elmwood Campus (Cupar) and Borders College say gamekeeping and wildlife management courses are attracting strong demand from sporting estates for recently qualified gamekeepers and modern apprenticeships. “Scotland’s rural industry is ever changing and to keep abreast of new legislation, conservation measures as well as best practice out on the moors, combining tutor-led learning with extensive practical placements is paramount,” said David Olds, lecturer at UHI. “Our modern apprenticeship course is a great springboard for those keen to get into the industry, offering a combination of work-based and college training. Students have the dual benefit of gaining a recognised qualification and work experience during placements on an estate. “We have…

UK Game Fair cancelled four weeks before launch The UK Game Fair has been cancelled by organisers Blaze Publishing just four weeks before its planned inaugural launch. Blaze called off the event, to be held at Stoneleigh Park, last Thursday, 23 June saying it believed it was the best way forward for the industry. Wes Stanton, organiser of the UK Game Fair, said: “While I’m massively disappointed, I realise that this is the right decision. It is already a packed summer event calendar and having worked in this market for over 20 years I believe this is the best way forward for everyone ” Farmers need to see returns improving It is critical that dairy farmers see money going back to the farm gate quickly and not stuck in the…

“Where brown hares abound, the sound of a hare in distress is extremely attractive to adult foxes” Regular readers of this column might recall that a couple of months ago I bought an electronic predator caller for fox control. Specifically, I wanted a remote-controlled device to draw adult foxes from thick cover and tall crops to places where they could be easily seen and shot from high seats. Hand or mouth-held callers are great, but there’s always the risk of a fox sneaking up behind you and rumbling you, while you remain oblivious to its presence. So long as you are mindful of wind direction, and the caller is set away from you, this shouldn’t happen with a remote-controlled device. There are many different brands of digital caller available, most…

MICHAEL HORNE’S Letter of the Week (Letters, 8 June) was a reminder of the fact that if you are looking for a gundog, there’s an alternative to the usual purchase of a pedigree puppy. Instead of buying a puppy, get a rescue dog, because there are hundreds of gundogs out there in need of a good home. It wasn’t only Michael’s letter that reminded me of this, as the day before reading it I’d received the following email: “Due to the passing away of a family member we have a male springer spaniel that is looking for a home. Monty is black and white, six years old and has been trained as a working dog so is extremely well behaved. He is a very affectionate, happy dog with full inoculations/microchip/vet…

“This opportunity to see first-hand the work being done in the uplands is vital to ensuring that the conservation debate features representation from those out there doing the work, and we are avid supporters of the Moorland Groups and all the work that they do.” Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bonner highlights how social media can help promote moorland management. 41 The NFU has said the delays in the “Roundup” reauthorisation have set a dangerous precedent for the 41 active ingredients up for renewal between now and Cereals 2017. The NFU said there is a need for new thinking as to how the industry as a whole lobbies on plant protection products, involving extra effort from lobbyists and farmers alike.…

EAT Do you have any frozen duck left? Now that fennel and raspberries are in season, why not put them to good use in a duck breast salad? The recipe is a great way to eat game in the summer sun, as it combines duck with asparagus, sweet potato and pickled fennel and is rounded off with a raspberry vinaigrette, which makes this dish taste as good as it looks. For the full recipe and all the ingredients, visit Shooting UK at http://po.st/ DuckSalad. READ Several countryside books have made the Wainwright Prize longlist. The prize is back to celebrate the best books on the outdoors, nature and UK travel. A shortlist of six books will be announced on Thursday, 30 June. The winner will then be revealed at the…

Gamekeepers have been warned that covercrops could be under threat from an unusually high influx of diamondback moths carried by winds into the UK from mainland Europe. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is reminding gamekeepers and landowners to keep a close eye on game covercrops and wildlife seed mixes in order to minimise any potential damage. Peter Thompson, biodiversity adviser at the GWCT, said: “Under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme’s wild bird seed mixture option, it is worth remembering that the required seed mix of a minimum of three plant species is quite likely to have included at least one brassica. The food plant of diamondback moth larvae is brassicas of all sorts, and if this element of the mix is destroyed by the caterpillars you may well be…

The British Deer Society’s recent online auction raised a record £42,000. Generous donors offered a total of 164 money-can’t-buy lots not usually available to the public, including private deerstalking, shooting and fishing, sporting goods, luxury holiday lets and special dining experiences. The winner of BASC’s latest photo competition has been announced. People were invited to show off their snaps on social media by tweeting @BASCnews on Twitter using #BASCPhotoShoot. The winning entry (above) was submitted by Kirsty Fenwick and features Betty, her English springer. A South African Labrador is fighting for her life after she was rescued from the ocean by a fishing vessel. Two-year-old Xena jumped into the ocean off Cape Town and it is thought she was caught in a strong rip current before being saved. Xena is…

“There are times when I think that my birds are hell-bent on self-destruction” There are a lot of jobs to juggle at this time of the year. Vermin control is still key, so keep at it because predator management continues to protect vulnerable broods of young chicks and leverets. It is proof positive of a job well done when you see all this new life out on the shoot. It is tremendous to hear the skylark. These little birds have become another of the estate’s conservation success stories. They tend to favour our spring crops and recently drilled gamecovers, especially when the winter-sown acreage has grown away. In many ways, the estate is akin to a grouse moor. Like well-managed heather moorland, we have a mosaic of crops at all…

Pigeon are survivors that adapt and change their behaviour, especially when a rich food source is available. It is not uncommon to see pigeon falling into standing crops, both barley and wheat. You will see them knocking the crop down with the weight of their body and wings to get at the milky grain. From a shooting point of view you can shoot big bags in this situation, but your responsibility is also to protect crops. If more damage is done picking birds in standing crops then, unfortunately, unless the pigeon are a huge problem, the crop should be left. After a heavy storm, be on the lookout. Once barley goes flat it will not take long for pigeon to find it, especially with the grain in its milky state.…

Clay pigeon or competition cartridges are a manufacturer’s delight because they are the big seller, more so than dedicated pigeon or game cartridges. They can represent, on average, as much as 60 per cent of total production because, unlike gameshooting, clays can be shot all year round. Just think of the number of cartridges you can get through on a morning at the local club. I would not mind betting that even a few practice sessions mean a potential consumption of cartridges often greater than that expended by a shooter in the season on a small knockabout mixed gameshoot. A wide variety Forty or so years ago, when clayshooting was really starting to catch on, we used whatever cartridges were to hand. Due to the amount of shooting, price was…

Bats have long been objects of fear and disgust. Early Christians believed that the devil could turn himself into a bat. For centuries bats were regarded as birds, not mammals, while The Biblelists the bat as an unclean creature that the faithful should never eat. Early Christian art often depicts the devil with bat wings, while the Spanish artist Goya used bats as symbols of threat. Bat bodies or bat parts are a frequent ingredient of the medicines of primitive doctors in both Europe and Africa, while one 13th-century work even suggested that rubbing your face with the blood of a bat would enhance night vision. In Central America, bats played an important part in Mayan religion. But in contrast to the mistrust displayed in many parts of the world,…

One of the problems in life is that you can’t be in two places at the same time. Last summer I planned a bear-watching trip to Transylvania, and this unfortunately coincided with the Field & Country Fair at Cornbury Park. By all accounts this was a great success, and I look forward to going next year. I like the fact that the Fair will return to the same site, which clearly is a great setting for an event of this kind. It’s also about as central as you can get in England. I’m delighted to report that my bear watching was equally successful: I saw 10 different wild bears. The European brown bear, Ursus arctos, is the same species as the grizzly bear, though not as big. However, it’s still…

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, Pinehurst 2, Farnborough…

As the summer breeding season draws to a close, young grey wagtails start to disperse, turning up almost anywhere, even in gardens. There are three wagtail species in the UK, with breeding grey wagtails most closely associated with running water. They are typically seen searching for insects at the water’s edge on hill streams but they can also be found along rivers in towns and major cities. Some birds’ names are rather misleading and the grey wagtail definitely comes into this category. Adult grey wagtails may have grey backs but the first impression, as a bird is disturbed from the banks of a fast-flowing river, is a flash of yellow and the wag of a tail. As there was already a yellow wagtail, a migrant species that returns each spring…

No butterfly has a more fascinating lifestyle than the large blue, but because it wasn’t properly understood, our native large blue died out in 1979. Conservationists had mistakenly fenced off the last known colony from rabbits, but the butterflies depend on a species of red ant for their complicated life cycle, and that red ant, Myrmica sabuleti, favours short-cropped turf. The female large blue lays her eggs on wild thyme, but the emerging caterpillars depend on the ants to adopt them, and take them into their underground nests. Here the caterpillar feasts on the ant grubs before pupating, eventually emerging as an adult butterfly the following June. Today the large blue has been successfully re-established, using Swedish stock, on a number of southern nature reserves. The flight period is brief…

“On an afternoon free of salmon, trout fed hard on one of the heaviest hatches of blue-winged olives” For some years, I have kept a diary regarding life and work on the river. My wife insists that it is my only means of remembering what it is that I am supposed to be doing from one day to the next, but it also serves as a useful bellwether for life in the river valley, and a reminder as to the state of play in previous years. Twelve months ago, I was again invited to Sutherland to fish the river Carron for salmon. This was quite a surprise, as I am sure I let myself down during previous visits — conditions were almost perfect yet few fish were caught. This year…

“Good-quality shooting has never been more accessible to a great variety of people” We shooters have a great deal to be thankful for. The UK shooting community is in fine fettle and in a better position to defend and promote our sport than at any time I can recall. No, I am not joking. I am not saying we should fall into the trap of relaxing our guard, but sometimes — just occasionally — we need to stand back and appreciate when our glass is half full, rather than half empty. Things could be worse, they really could. I remember, in the dim, misty recesses of my mind, that I was once a university student. Ah, those were the days… Anyway, there I was, looking forward to some pterodactyl flighting…