Innholdsfortegnelse for 01-Aug-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

A week ago, while sprinkling a rabbit haunch with thyme, and scrolling through news on my phone, I noticed a Guardian story about grey partridges. It begins pleasantly enough with Jim Perrin painting a bucolic picture of a charming “secret wilderness place” in Powys. Then the tone blackens with Perrin’s lament that the idyll is now at the centre of “a shooting estate”. “Soon,” he writes, “the limp and shattered bodies will thud into the ground” before being tossed into the back of Land Rovers and “sent for landfill”. There is even a picture of the tragic victims. Except the birds in the picture are not grey partridges at all — they are pheasant poults. The article is not only wrong but, unless the Guardian has evidence that the estate…

1 Seeland Skeet waistcoat RRP £49  www.afarleycountryattire.co.uk This ergonomically shaped shooting gilet features flexible shoulders and large cartridge pockets. It allows optimum freedom of movement while shooting and easy access to your cartridges. Plus there is a game pocket, ear defenders strap, reinforced shoulders, gel pocket at the shoulder and a loop for glasses. 2 Tweed breeks RRP £185  www.oliverbrown.org.uk Made in the UK from the highest quality wool and offering protection from the elements, these traditional men’s breeks are functional classics and cut for comfort. They are fully adjustable at the side and calf with a generous fit making them essential for the upcoming season. 3 Running hare silk tie RRP £65  www.cordings.co.uk Made in Italy with the finest silk, this tie is perfect for that first partridge day…

Retriever owners today don’t realise that during the 19th century the retriever was one breed, divided by different colours and coats. At that time the wavycoated retriever, the forefather of the flatcoat, was the dominant one, with the curlycoat being less common. But there were smoothcoated ones and yellow retrievers with different coat structures long before the breakthrough of the breeds we know. But all those retrievers were built on a common fundament and crosses were quite frequently made until modern times. Judi Seall’s beautiful and informative book The History of Retrievers: Compiled from the Scrapbooks of H. Reginald Cooke, talks about well-known flatcoats being used actively in Labrador breeding, with dogs competing in the flatcoat ring and their litter-mates in the Labrador ring. It seems obvious that qualities we…

The hot weather continues, which after the summers of 2016 and 2017 is rather welcome. Part of me is expecting the weather to break at any moment and return to the wet we have become used to. I hope I am wrong, though the weather — and rainfall, especially — does have a habit of correcting itself over the course of the year. A recently retired farming neighbour has recorded the rainfall on his farm for 50 years and the only thing he could predict from the data was the possibility of a wet February if we’d had a dry September. Yearly rainfall stayed much the same, with the only change being the months it fell. I guess this year will be similar and at some time we will get…

Am I alone in feeling a rising sense of anger and despair at the current state of our countryside? Anyone born within the past three or four decades may have no idea of the loss of insect, mammal and bird life that has taken place, a tragedy that has denuded the landscape of so much of its once-thriving natural life. I was brought up in Surrey and can recall finding stag beetles and seeing silver-studded blue, grayling and purple hairstreak butterflies. While on the South Downs, below Cissbury Ring, I encountered corncrakes and remember seeing a red-backed shrike — a butcher bird — impaling its prey on a thorn bush. We thought nothing of the all-too-numerous flattened hedgehogs seen on the road, while at dusk a wide variety of moths…

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…

Latin name: Symphytum officinale Common name: Comfrey Other names: Alum, backwort, black root, bone-set, bruisewort, knit-bone How to spot it and where to find it: This tall perennial herb is found on the banks of streams and rivers, in ditches, fens and marshes and on damp road verges, particularly in lowland areas. Native to Europe and Asia, it is now found in all temperate regions, including Australia and the US. It has long, thick, hairy leaves with narrow ends and nodding, tubular bell-shaped purple, pink or cream flowers. Flowering begins in late May or early June and continues until the first frosts of autumn. Interesting facts: Comfrey’s old name of knit-bone refers to its strong healing action for broken bones. It has been cultivated as a healing herb since at…

STALKING Q What do you think is the optimum time to wait in a high seat? A This is a bit of an open-ended question along the lines of “What’s the best calibre for deer?” and “How long is a piece of string?” It would depend on why you were using the high seat. Is it to target a particular animal or trophy? Is it about management of a group of deer? Is it to determine the local population? Or is the high seat being used for safety reasons due to any hazards in the vicinity? Often when using a seat, for whatever reason, you have to apply your local knowledge. When do the deer move? Do they react differently to varying wind and weather directions? How sensitive are they…

GUNDOGS Q I have recently acquired a 10-week-old springer spaniel to be trained for beating, rough shooting and some picking-up. She is readily picking up almost everything she finds and chewing it, including sticks, bits of grass, even plain soil. How should I approach this? Should I take everything off her? Or should I encourage it as positive behaviour? She can be quite wilful and gets possessive. A At 10 weeks old a puppy is neither wilful nor possessive, but she will be learning to fit in with her new home and the people and other animals associated with it. The people and her environment will play a huge part in that learning process. You have to make sure she is learning in a positive way to be a friendly…

Test your knowledge of the tides, including tidal ranges, the speed of the tide and the height of the tide, with our mini quiz. 1 Which coastal area of the UK has the greatest tidal range? 2 How big is this tidal range? 3 What sort of speed can an ebbing tide reach? 4 How fast does the tide come in on some estuaries? 5 Which emergency service should you call if you get into difficulty out on the estuary? ANSWERS: 1 The estuary of the river Severn; 2 About 15m — the height of a four-storey building; 3 Up to and exceeding 6 knots (7mph); 4 As fast as a man can run; 5 The coastguard…

OPINION The House of Lords select committee on the rural economy is asking country communities for their comments on opportunities, challenges and prospects, with subjects including housing, transport, employment, services, demographic change and digital connectivity. Give your views on the rural economy by 10 September using the online form at po.st/ruraleconomy. UNITE Following our report that the Welsh Labour Government does not support commercial pheasant shooting (News, 25 July), the British Game Alliance (BGA) has put out a call for new members. BGA managing director Tom Adams said: “The political threat to shooting is real, and we know the strongest defences are a thriving game meat market and rigorously enforced shoot standards. The BGA delivers on both these fronts. The good news is 100 shoots have already signed up but…

BASS RELIEF I have been enjoying the BBC’s Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing but I was disappointed in the episode that included fishing for bass. In previous episodes, great care was taken showing fish that had been caught being returned to the water. However, when a bass reported as 10lb was caught, there was no return to the water and the pair were shown carrying a fish box to a nearby restaurant. There was a shot of what looked like the bass being filleted and a plate of the cooked fish was consumed. A fish that big could be anything from 13 to 30 years old. As I understand the current rules prohibit pleasure anglers taking bass and this programme is likely to encourage people to try to catch and…

NEXT WEEK SEES THE pinnacle of the pointer and setter trialling season, the Champion Stake. It takes place on 10-11 August, at Byrecleugh, Lauder, Scottish Borders, by gracious permission of the Duke of Roxburghe. Though it is the equivalent of the IGL Retriever Championship, it is never known as the Championship, but always the Champion Stake. It is the culmination of a long series of pointer and setter trials that started in March. Pointer and setter trials have a long and distinguished history, with the first being held in 1865. This was well before the advent of driven game shooting, and at a time when pointers and setters were the most important dogs in the shooting world. The first Champion Stake was held four years later and was won by…

AIRGUNS Q I am thinking about carrying out some tests to compare the penetration of different airgun pellets. Is it worth paying for purpose-made ballistic putty or is Plasticine just as good? A Plasticine is my medium of choice for most of my pellet testing, and it is more than good enough for a basic head-to-head comparison. The results can be quite surprising and I’ve often seen flathead pellets outperform pointed pellets in the penetration stakes. I would strongly recommend that you also add accuracy to your list of test criteria. Precision is the most important demand made of airgun pellets, as we deal with quarry that presents a very small kill zone. Simple card or paper targets are the best way to gauge a pellet’s grouping potential.…

VETERINARY CARE Q When I took my nine-week-old Labrador puppy to the vets for its first inoculation, the vet told me the rest of my picking-up team had to be confined to barracks for three weeks to avoid bringing in infection. Is this really necessary, as my springer spaniel will go crazy if kept in for three weeks? A Your puppy won’t be fully protected until after its second inoculation, and its immune system won’t be able to effectively mount a defence to overcome an infection until it is some 12 to 16 weeks of age. During the intervening period you need to ensure that the puppy is not exposed to any undue risk of infection. Your other dog might pose a risk by picking up, carrying and passing on…

There are no fewer than 57 recognised breeds of sheep in the UK, of which almost half are considered rare and are on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s watchlist. One of the rarest is the North Ronaldsay, a native of the northernmost island of the Orkney group. In 1832, a wall was built around the island to keep the sheep on the shore, with the ewes only brought on to better land for lambing. As a result, these tough little sheep have evolved to live on a diet of seaweed. This is a small and slender breed. An adult ram weighs 35kg, while a ewe weighs 25kg. The lambs are small and are rarely slaughtered for their meat until they are almost fully grown. The fleece can be either plucked…

RIFLES Q Are the small BB and CB caps for .22 rimfire rifles still available? I found these extremely good for feral pigeons and rats in the barn to avoid breaking my tractor windows, but I have struggled to source them. A I too love these little rounds, but many are not imported into this country. I have a few limited stocks of RWS, but I believe Westlander (www.westlander.co.uk)now imports the Sellier & Bellot range of ammunition. This manufacturer makes a CB cap, or Flobert á balle (as listed), which is a coppered conical bullet weighing only 18-gr. The other is a BB cap listed as Flobert Court, which uses a 16-gr lead ball bearing. No velocities are listed, but typically a CB cap has a velocity of 800fps for…

Could Sir Cliff Richard’s recent court victory over the BBC have implications for the way allegations of illegal raptor persecution are reported? Sir Cliff had not been charged with any criminal offence. He never was. Yet he had to endure four years of reputational hell. When Sir Cliff’s legal team raised privacy and data protection issues with the BBC, the corporation refused to apologise. Instead it plunged ahead, replete with licence fee-payers’ money, to its eventual legal downfall and a hefty fine. Now Sir Cliff’s side is pursuing legal costs. The judge objected to the BBC’s naming of Sir Cliff. The BBC and some of the media are now squealing that the judgement means the police can act without public scrutiny. This self-serving nonsense stands the real issue on its…

Dog bed winner This is sprocker Alfie, who won his own personalised dog bed from Orvis in the recent competition run in association with Shooting Times. Alfie’s owner says: “We are so chuffed with Alfie’s new bed. He hopped into it last night and didn’t move until the morning, which proves how comfy it is because he is normally a real fidget. He has been going back and forth to it all day. Thank you so much.” The biggest retrieve Not a gathering of the clans, but a mass gathering of golden retrievers took place at the Guisachan estate in Tomich, Scotland, to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the much-loved breed. The golden retriever was created nearby by landowner Lord Tweedmouth, who wanted a dog capable of…

I shoot the vermin on our smallholding at Walesby in Nottinghamshire and I get Shooting Times every Wednesday. J. Hamkey, by email The Editor responds: I decided to make this Letter of the Week for the simple reason that it brought back countless memories of shooting rabbits with my old BSA Meteor when I was your age. An afternoon stalking rabbits with an air rifle teaches you things that standing on a peg never will. IN ASSOCIATION WITH SEELAND The winner of Letter of the Week will receive a new William II waistcoat from Seeland. Worth £64.99, it is available in navy, moose brown and pine green and sizes S to 5XL. For more information visit www.seeland.com.…

I promise you that, by the time you read this article some time early in August, the weather will have broken. Given that I am writing this in the middle of July, you are perhaps wondering what makes me so certain that change is on the way. The reason is perfectly simple and straightforward — my poults arrive at the end of July. Always, just as soon as a new generation of poults has arrived at High Park, the weather decides to help them settle in by releasing a relentless downpour — unless it prefers a violent thunderstorm or even a cloudburst. I will be stunned if July ends without some sort of deluge. Meanwhile, the sun beats down, pastures turn brown, sheep pant in the inadequate shade of walls…

GAME ABROAD Q I’m tempted to go to New Zealand to hunt chamois, but would like to know where New Zealand’s chamois come from? A Remarkably, the South Island’s thriving chamois population is descended from 10 animals that were a gift from Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria, to the New Zealand government, sent between 1907 and 1914. It was the assassination of Franz Josef’s nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which precipitated the start of World War I. Those first chamois were released on the slopes of Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. They clearly liked what they found, because they dispersed further and faster than any of the other ungulates introduced to the island, and today are widespread from 1,500m to 2,000m throughout the Southern Alps. Their success was due to…

BLACKCAP At this time of year most blackcaps have a brown cap. Only the adult male’s cap is black and that may well look a bit tatty during the post-breeding moult. Juveniles are growing new body feathers, too, so the slightly gingery brown cap of one of this year’s males may have the first few black flecks of adulthood. The change is less obvious in young females. Moulting is an energetic process and takes place at the same time as the birds are preparing to migrate south for the winter. Fortunately, the berries in hedgerows provide excellent feeding opportunities for blackcaps, allowing them to pile on the fat they need for flights to countries in the Mediterranean basin. In the autumn, we will see the arrival of a new batch…

COVER CROPS Q One of our game crops has been planted with a seed mix that includes kale, quinoa, triticale, millet, sunflowers and sorghum. It has grown OK the past couple of years and has held the birds quite well. This year it is a carpet of weeds, the things we want to grow are struggling and I have been told we won’t be able to spray it because it is a mix. Is this true? If it is, why do firms sell mixes you can’t spray and are therefore almost impossible to grow? A The mix you describe will be impossible to spray without losing some of the plants you have put in. Even then, your success with spraying for the more common weeds post-emergence will be limited. If…

Our wildfowling club runs a probationary system whereby new members are accompanied on the marsh for their first season. Once the season gets under way most of the dedicated, and successful, fowlers will cease to judge time by the conventional solar calendar and will slip seamlessly into working with the lunar calendar. Their lives will be dominated by the moon’s effect on the tide. At its simplest, tides are caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and moon pulling on water in the oceans, so there are “bulges” in the ocean on both sides of the planet. The phase of the moon also plays a part in the range of the tide; the solar tide coincides with the lunar tide, and their combined gravitational forces pull the oceans’ water…