Innholdsfortegnelse for 27-Jun-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

Last weekend I went pigeon shooting. I’d love to tell you where but the farm we were on is so productive that were I to divulge it, the syndicate would undoubtedly respond with such ferocity that I’d have to go into exile. It was the sort of Sunday I dream of. It was work though, of course. We had a photographer with us who I’d commissioned to capture birds being shot in flight. He hadn’t been out before and as we sat there, I wondered if he was enjoying it. About two hours in, just after my fellow shooter had killed a long crosser, the photographer thrust his camera towards me. “Look at that one. Absolutely stone dead. It’s upside down.” He was right. It was upside down, plummeting into…

WRITE Submissions have been pouring in since we relaunched our reader’s story feature — why not join in and write up a fieldsports day worth sharing. Send it to steditorials@ti-media.com. Articles should be 600 words. Successful writers will receive a 12-pack of beer from Black Isle Brewery and their story will be published in a future issue. ATTEND The annual GWCT Scottish Game Fair will be taking place from 29 June to 1 July in Scone, Perthshire. Along with demonstrations from expert gundog trainers, there is a packed programme including all fieldsports from terrier racing to flyfishing. You can also learn how to cook venison to perfection with chef and presenter Christopher Trotter in the Cookery Theatre. Email info@scottishfair.com for more information. BOOK Secure your place at the Beretta World…

An updated wayleave framework has been developed by the CLA and the National Farmers’ Union to pave the way for broadband infrastructure providers to speed up the rollout of rural broadband while ensuring fair treatment for landowners. The Rural Communications Agreement is designed to make it easier for landowners and broadband providers to come to an understanding. The CLA represents 30,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses across England and Wales. CLA deputy president Mark Bridgeman said: “People living and working in rural areas have fought long and hard for better broadband provision and the wayleave agreement will help speed up fixed line broadband delivery without eroding property rights. The CLA will keep the pressure on broadband providers to deliver the fast, affordable and reliable connections that the countryside needs, and…

Shelducks are extremely familiar and well known here in Galloway, where they come to breed each year. Down on our best fields by the Solway Firth, spring is declared by the arrival of shelducks flying noisily overhead in small gangs. It is fun to watch them waddling out on the shifting sands, squabbling and courting in that strange middle ground between land and sea. The low tide reveals miles of mud and sand every day and, while curlew and geese belong here in winter, shelduck are the defining birds of this seascape in spring. When May comes, they move a little inland and begin their courtship in earnest. I watched a group of 15 shelducks chasing one another over the merse this spring as I rolled our best hay field.…

I fancied the salmon en croûte for dinner but the waiter said it was not available, so I settled for halibut, which, when it came, was very tasty. The Chablis was good too, a 1998. I had a view of the river through the French windows and it was just as I lifted the last forkful of halibut that I noticed the angler — he was obviously a local; they were permitted to fish for trout in the evening. He stood to his waist in the pool, down in the bend of the river Tay, casting across to the bank that bordered the grounds of Ballathie House Hotel. We had been there three days and I had already an 8lb hen and a 17lb cock salmon to my rod, both…

From a conservation point of view, weeds are a mixed blessing. If there are so many that they prevent you from growing your crop, they are a problem. On the other hand, they are host plants for many insects, including some that are important chick food items. Their flowers can be a valuable source of pollen and nectar and their seeds are food for a host of wildlife. A modicum of broad-leaved weeds, such as knotgrass, mayweed, speedwell, field pansy and groundsel, is no problem to most cover crops, but too much grass usually is. I also like to see a few thistles — they rarely actually compete with the crop, provide pollen and nectar for the bumblebees, and seed heads for the lovely goldfinches in winter.…

“DESIGNER DOGS” IS the somewhat disparaging term for the modern enthusiasm for crossing different breeds with each other. The Kennel Club, which has always been rather sniffy about such cross-breeds, was eventually forced to accept them. They can now be entered on the Club’s activity register. However, there is little advantage to registering if you have a designer gundog, such as a springador (springer-Labrador cross). Dogs on the activity register are not eligible to compete in field trials or Kennel Club gundog working tests — nor bloodhound trials or breed shows — though they could do agility, flyball or even heel work to music, which is hardly a gundog strength. I have some sympathy with the Club’s stance, as it is worried that unscrupulous breeders are producing these types of…

To maximise security you could: Build your kennels as close to your house as possible and try to disguise your ownership. This not only means making the kennels less visible, but also not boasting about your well-trained gundogs — word travels fast. Use of adequate security lighting, ideally placed where it cannot be tampered with. Consider using alarmed padlocks or passive infrared sensors that send text messages to your mobile phone when tampered with. Install remote access CCTV, which allows you to regularly check on your dogs from your mobile phone. Consider the use of tinted windows on your vehicle — these help to obscure the view into the rear of your vehicle. Dog transit crates secured with alarmed padlocks could be considered when out working your dog, if other…

Latin name: Eryngium maritimum Common name: Sea holly Other names: Sea eryngo, sea holm How to spot it and where to find it: Sea holly is mostly found on coastal sand dunes or sandy beaches. An architectural beauty, it forms clumps of spiny blue-green leaves and blooms with small purple-blue flowers packed into a rounded head from late June to September. Interesting facts: The leaves look like they have been “frosted”, a waxy covering that helps the plant to retain moisture in its windswept habitat. It has been cultivated since 1648 and its roots, boiled, are said to taste sweet like chestnuts and to help with liver illnesses and convulsions. Candied, the roots were made into a sweetmeat called Eringoes. A Robert Buxton of Colchester was famous for them and…

The world of firearms design is chock-full of oddities. One of the most bizarre is a pistol that fires a rocket-propelled bullet. No, I hear you cry, you are making it up. Things like that are only found in James Bond films. How right you are — Sean Connery used a Mk1 Gyrojet pistol in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice. The Gyrojet was the brainchild of Robert Mainhardt and Art Biehl, who formed MB Associates in order to exploit Biehl’s designs for rocket-propelled armour-piercing projectiles. They turned from this area and refocused on small arms. The Gyrojet fired a complicated rocket-propelled bullet known as a Microjet. Ballistic stability was achieved by making the missile spin around its axis exactly like a conventional rifle’s barrel. The clever part…

When I was a boy, growing up in rural north Buckinghamshire, somebody ran over my cat. Fred was a magnificent dark silver tabby. He was heading peacefully for a ripe old age when he was hit by a car right outside our house. We heard the dogs barking and a commotion, then the squeal of rubber as the driver sped away. Bolting outside, I found Fred lying on the verge. Our house was the only one within half a mile; the driver must have known the cat was ours. He killed a kid’s cat and then scarpered. What a hero. I fully appreciate the problems cats cause for songbirds. I have outlined them on this page several times. I have also explored the hypocrisy of the RSPB, which knows that…

A useful read for Guns The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) book The Knowledge — Every Gun’s Guide to Conservation will be published on 2 July. The new book tackles subjects such as game and habitat management for species in decline and answers questions such as what UK habitats do woodcock prefer and why are grey partridges on the quarry list when they are in national decline? It has a whole chapter dedicated to what Guns — seasoned and new — need to know on a shoot day and all safety precautions needed to enjoy the day. The book can be preordered from www.gwctshop.org.uk and costs £15.95. Fishing for charity raises almost £2k The inaugural Ye Olde Bait Challenge took place at Wessex Water’s Durleigh reservoir in Somerset on…

IT TAKES COURAGE Is M. Swift not aware of the maxim “discretion is the better part of valour” (Letters, 20 June)? Patrick retired gracefully from the confrontation and avoided aggravation. What is the point of making enemies to our sport, wrong-minded though they may be? Well done Patrick — it takes courage to step back. K. Salad, by email LESS IS MORE Hampshire Game has been in business for more than 50 years. During that time all game dealers have been treated as “the enemy within” by the rest of the game industry. We have never paid enough for any of the game we buy and have had the cheek to try to make money. The reality is game dealing is hard work; we take game in and try to…

I have always loved watching hounds, whether it is beagling with the Taw Vale Beagles, riding with the Tiverton Foxhounds or clinging on with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. Until recently, though, I had never been rat hunting. While my flatcoats enjoy the odd foray — one successful jaunt saw them take a rather fine specimen from under my mother’s hen house — they would rather lie in the sun or by the fire than stir themselves to do a day’s ratting. It was after this outing that my trusty hounds/lazy flatcoats and I sat by the fire, sipping a strong gin and reading Shooting Times. Within its pages I discovered, to my joy and slight jealousy, that there was a man who had a fully fledged rat pack (East…

Have you been out and looked at your cover crops since they were sown? If the answer is “No, but I know there is something there because the plot is green”, please go and take a closer look. I have a policy of making a close inspection at least once a week at this time of year. Newly established cover plots are uniquely vulnerable to a whole range of issues and the fact that there is something looking suitably green is no guarantee that what you actually want is flourishing. Most of us grow game cover in the same places year on year. We leave the plants standing long after harvest time, so any weeds have all the time in the world to flower and set seed. Leave that to…

I have Just re-read my article (Gundogs, 6 June) on the arrival of Emma, my new puppy, which wasn’t one of my best pieces, as I totally failed to capture the pleasure the arrival of a new dog brings. Emma makes me smile from dawn to dusk, as so much of what she does is delightful, endearing or Just plain funny. For a puppy, the world is a wonderfully fascinating place and every excursion from the security of her cage is an exciting adventure. It is easy to get exasperated or even cross with a puppy, as they can be infuriatingly destructive, not to mention quite ferocious, testing their teeth on your shoes, legs, arms or whatever they can bite. However, puppies are programmed to behave like that, so you…

Looking for long-net advice FERRETING Q I have been unable to shoot the bolting rabbits in a certain overgrown area, so I have decided to buy a long-net when I visit the Game Fair in July. Are these nets as simple as you make them look? Where would be the best place to put them? A Like a lot of things in ferreting, it is all about opinions, as each scenario is as individual as the user. All I can do is give some general advice based upon my own experience. Using a long-net when ferreting is as easy or as hard as you want to make it. For a beginner, or anyone else for that matter, I would advise using a fixed-net system over the more specialised traditional rig.…

The Beast from the East seems to have knocked back the Norfolk population of Cetti’s warbler, one of only two British warblers that do not migrate. The need to find insect food in the winter makes them susceptible to periods of old-fashioned winter weather, so it is not surprising that there are fewer around. Cetti’s warbler is not easy to see, because it is shy and brown, but males are ridiculously noisy CETTI’S WARBLER — when one explodes into song it sounds as if someone has hidden a loudspeaker in a bush. Numbers of this warbler have grown rapidly since they first bred in Kent in 1972 or 1973, with birds now living as far north as Yorkshire and around much of the Welsh coast. When we caught a Cetti’s…

I decided to watch some of Dave Carrie’s short films (Is it ever ethical to shoot high birds?, 6 June). While they appeared to be professionally presented, they seem to be nothing more than a video record of Mr Carrie and his team shooting high-bird days at various exclusive shoots throughout the country. So I read his article in the hope that there would be a reasoned response to those of us who feel that such films could fuel adverse publicity and a negative reaction from the non-shooting community. Unfortunately no such arguments were offered; instead there were comments such as “It is the big boys who have the clout and the coffers to fight our corner”. I would like to think he was talking about BASC or the Countryside…

So you’ve got a piece of land and you’re wanting to break some clays. You’ve got a sensible budget. You’re not going completely wild but you’ve set aside £1,500. What do you need to know and which trap is best for you? First, you need to make sure that no shot and no broken clays will fall on anyone else’s land around you and remember that you are not allowed to shoot over a right of way. The expected distance a shot can travel is 300 yards so you will need to take into consideration the angle of fire, shot size and wind direction when positioning your trap. You are allowed to use the ground for up to 28 days a year. It’s always good to get neighbours onside before…

For price and robustness, I would recommend the Bowman Supermatch One with a DTL base and a remote system. This would cover you for most eventualities and would be the most versatile set-up. However, this is completely dependent on what you want out of your practice at home. If you are wanting to practise with a group of friends then a manual trap is likely to be the best and cheapest solution. If the same applies but you are looking to entertain larger groups of friends, the Flurry Launcher will probably be best. There is nothing to say that the Promatic traps wouldn’t do the same job, though.…

“A mackerel hooked on a flyline and played directly by hand translates every kick and quiver dodge down the line” “Facebook,” says Martin in the tackle shop. “Bloke posted that he’d caught a string off the Chesil. At Bexington.” “Facebook?” I mumbled, feeling both excited and slightly depressed. Excited that some mackerel had at last been caught along our stretch of coastline; depressed that such news now comes through something as alien and nasty as social media. But that’s the Luddite in me talking; the old codger who longs for the days when the summers were longer and the beer was stronger, yet is perfectly happy to use 21st-century state-of-the-art GPS and echo-sounding techniques when they help to catch fish. What was I expecting? A signal drumbeat sounded out on…

The boy stared out of the cottage window. It looked like rain and heavy clouds hung over the Langholm Hills. He saw Dr Mcneil trudging up the narrow lane to the small loch just over the hill, his creel on his shoulder and fly rod in hand. The doctor was off to do battle with his favourite foe — the biggest brown trout that lurked in the loch. This loch was not a natural one; it had been created by damming a narrow valley to create a reservoir from which water was drawn to provide electricity for the “big house”. no one knew where the fish came from nor why one of them had outgrown all the others to become a monster. only the doctor had permission to fish in…

The appeal of dawn is something that has held me in thrall for as far back as I can remember. When added to it is the opportunity of downing a wild goose or grassing the king of fish, early rising loses all its annoyances and irritations. How I loathe having to bestir myself to catch an early train or set off on a road journey for a business appointment yet, when fish or geese figure on the programme, it all becomes easy and I find myself champing to be away — probably far too early. Many times this spring I have risen before light, cooked a sketchy breakfast and been at the waterside in time to see the first wisps of smoke emerging from country cottages. That 50-mile drive while…

Wiltshire has, like most rural counties, suffered with the theft of dogs and, on occasion, the theft of gundogs. It is thankfully not that common and most dogs turn up as being lost rather than stolen. In law, dogs are classed as property and as such the taking of someone’s property comes under the Theft Act 1968. As a result any person found guilty of theft could receive an unlimited fine or be imprisoned for six months to seven years, depending on the circumstances and severity of the theft. Dog theft is a problem for owners of all breeds; however, it is recognised that gundogs are biddable, well trained and often pedigree, so are at particular risk. The most commonly stolen gundogs are cocker and springer spaniels and Labradors, with…

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@ti-media.com By post: Shooting Times,…

Few breeds of cattle have had such a huge worldwide impact as the Aberdeen Angus. It has long been valued for its docility and its ability to thrive and mature quickly on rough grazing, but its most important feature has always been the quality of its prime marbled beef. As a result it has been exported around the world and is a major beef breed in many countries. Despite such success, the native Angus, the forefather of the modern breed, is on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s Watchlist 2018-19 as an endangered breed. It is shorter in the leg than the modern Angus, giving a much blockier appearance, but it shares many of the latter’s features, such as colour — usually black, but some red — and the fact that…

I’ve yet to see my first brood of grey partridge this year. Slightly unnervingly, for the past two years I’ve seen the first partridge chicks on 8 June. Traditionally, Ascot week signals the main hatches of grey partridges in the country but I’m sure that every year some early birds show — perhaps I’ve just been in the right place at the right time to see these early broods. I received news from Norfolk and Yorkshire of the first partridge chicks emerging so I’m sure it wont be many days now until I see my first. Whatever the species of bird, for a keeper to see the first mallard ducklings, the first grouse chick or the first sight of a pheasant chick vanishing into cover signals the renewal process is…