Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-May-2019 i Shooting Times & Country

I’m sure that like many of you, I contacted Defra last week to submit evidence that will hopefully help them make a sensible decision regarding reissuing the general licences. I was cheered when Michael Gove decided to take over Natural England’s shambles but the news that he is considering making woodpigeon a quarry species, with a close season, is concerning. As Matt Cross wrote (The truth about pigeon damage, 8 May), pigeons consume £75million of oilseed rape every year and they breed all year round. Pigeon shooting is exceptionally testing and the meat is delicious but the bird is a serious agricultural pest and must be treated as such. Those who shoot thousands of birds a year are providing a vital crop protection service. When British farmers are so squeezed,…

APPLY Fisheries or aquatic students have been invited to apply for the Anne Voss-Bark Memorial Award. The successful applicant will win a week’s work experience at the Westcountry Rivers Trust, learning catchment management and water science from eminent scientists. A two-day flyfishing course is also included, plus accommodation at the Arundell Arms Hotel and £250. Last year’s winner William Davidson said: “I’ll be able to carry these skills with me in my future PhD work related to the promotion of sustainable aquaculture practices.” The closing date for applications is 31 July. For more information email janina@salmon-trout.org. TAKE FLIGHT If you are thinking about creating a scrape or flightpond to attract species such as mallard and teal, start planning now. Contributor Graham Downing recommends the scrape has an irregular margin, with…

CATS AND DOGS I read with interest a point raised by a C. Gore, regarding cats (Letters, 15 May). The estimated 27million birds per year killed by cats should mean that some sort of control should be ordered. If my dog ran around killing wildlife on that scale, I would rightly be hauled up and charged under the Dangerous Dogs Act. It’s about time cats and their owners were held responsible for their actions. The lack of action by Chris Packham on this front proves that the debacle around general licences is not about protecting birds, it’s about limiting shooting, plain and simple. Otherwise, he and his cohorts would be pushing for stricter control of cats, not limiting the legal control of pest bird species. S. Hills, by email SHOOTING…

“Well done, Dad. That’s six ‘morons’, four ‘prats’, three ‘w***ers’ and one who wants to dip you in honey and feed you to Charlie’s Angels. Only joking, he wants to shoot you.” It is lucky that my children are old enough to think it is funny, rather than frightening and upsetting, when their father is engulfed in a Twitter storm. My computer has developed a rash from all the poison in the online abuse from Chris Packham’s supporters after an article I wrote for the Telegraph. If you can judge a man by his friends then I was surely right to call for the BBC to get itself another wildlife presenter. For me, he has allowed himself to compromise the BBC’s covenant of impartiality. The Beeb’s response seems to be…

At the time of writing, a quick internet search reveals a number of tempting opportunities. Here is just a small selection: Abington, Lanarkshire Eight days’ shooting up to 100 pheasants, partridges and snipe, with evening duck shooting available: £650 Dale House, Lancashire Five days’ shooting 100-150 pheasants and partridges on the Lancashire moors, with shoot trailer available: £560 Golding, South Shropshire Eight days’ shooting up to 100 pheasants, meeting and socialising in an attractive gun room: £1,250 Thetford Forest, Suffolk Ten days of walk one, stand one shooting up to 100 pheasants and ducks, with summer clay shooting and pest control. Working parties expected. Price includes BASC membership: £700…

During the judges’ training day I had a chat with Mike Skipper, chairman of the ECRS. He was delighted with the response to the event, and that its popularity clearly justified the amount of work that had gone into planning and staging it. However, he did admit with a slightly rueful smile that the ECRS is one of the oldest of all the field trial societies — having been founded in 1907 — and that this was the first judges’ training day it had ever staged. The Kennel Club doesn’t think that it needs to organise days like this, though several people I spoke to believe that it should. Trials have never been under closer public scrutiny than they are today and, if the Club is to continue in its…

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 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 JEREMY HUNT Runs Fenway Labradors and a professional gundog trainer TIM MADDAMS Former head chef at River Cottage and runs a shoot in Devon SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior…

The kestrel used to be the most numerous of the UK’s breeding raptors until the buzzard usurped it. A hovering kestrel is still a relatively common sight on farmland and along roadside verges, but since the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey started in 1995, there have been big declines across the UK. Losses have been highest in Scotland, where two-thirds of kestrels have disappeared in just 20 years. Numbers are dropping across Europe, potentially linked to the number of small mammals available to feed upon. Kestrels also take birds, particularly during the fledging season, and this can bring them into conflict with conservationists. Diversionary feeding with alternative food can be useful if trying to keep kestrels away from colonies of breeding birds.…

The GWCT’s efforts to increase understanding of the British countryside have gained a celebrity backer — at a time when other celebrities are slamming shooting and other fieldsports. Woodcraft and survival expert Ray Mears has offered to write a foreword to the new edition of the GWCT’s book, The Knowledge: Every Gun’s Guide to Conservation. The first edition was published in June last year and it has already sold 1,500 copies. “Knowledge is key to valuing and respecting our environment” Announcing the news of Mr Mears’ contribution, the GWCT explained that the book “is aimed at those who take part in shooting, whether they’re a seasoned Shot or new to the sport, and is equally of value to conservationists or people keen to learn more about how the British countryside…

A great many readers will probably be marching in London on 29 June to express a grass-roots support of the countryside, following a hugely popular social media campaign (News, 8 May). I won’t be joining them, not because I disagree with their good intent but because I am not so sure of the value of protest marches. Almost half a million of us joined the 2002 Liberty and Livelihood March, and little good that did. The police were benign and friendly on that occasion, but anyone who was in Parliament Square for the vote on the Hunting Act in September 2004 will remember that they were very different then. Ready for trouble and wearing full protective gear, they refused to engage with the public around them from the outset and…

For any gamekeepers who think they are living in their own little bubble, and nothing will affect what they do, the fact that some shooting leases on moorland will not be renewed should give them some idea of how sensitive companies and organisations are becoming to social pressure. The electronic age is a wonderful thing, depending of course on how it is used — sadly, all too often it is being used for the wrong ends. Ministers, and Government departments often blink at the first sign of bad news coming their way and this has not been lost on individuals and pressure groups. Those individuals will stop at very little to get what they want, and it is all too easy for the politicians or civil servants to cave in.…

Follow these simple steps when prepping your trophy head. You will need a sharp knife — and almost certainly a knife sharpener, as the process will soon wear down the blade — long-nose pliers, scalpel, chain-mail or cut-proof glove, apron, an old, roomy saucepan, a shallow dish and professional hair-bleaching peroxide. And it’s best done outside. 1 Remove the ears This makes it easier to remove the skin, taking care not to scratch the skull. 2 Remove the lower jaw Cut through the tendons that attach it to the skull and open until it dislocates. 3 Remove the eyes Use pliers and, once you see the optic nerve, cut it with a scalpel. 4 Ready for boiling Without the eyes, lower jaw and tongue, the skull…

By late May most cover crops will be sown and many will already be showing above the soil surface, so we can relax — a bit. But now is not the time to be complacent; successful game and wildlife holding cover for autumn and winter is several months away. Don’t be fooled when you see your cover plot greening up nicely. Take a close look at least once a week, and make sure that what you are looking at is not just a fine crop of weeds. Most single crops have selective herbicide options that can allow a good level of weed control, as do some mixtures. However, the more complex the mix, the less likely there is a control available without the risk of killing some of the constituents.…

It comes as a big surprise to most people to learn that a lever-cocked, hammerless breechloading, double-barrelled shotgun, which used self-contained cartridges, existed as early as the 1830s. Yet this is the case when one looks at the Robert patent gun, which appeared in France in about 1830. It was the brainchild of Jean-Antoine Robert, who was active in Paris from 1829 to 1840. His workshop was at 6 Rue Pichet and his goods depot was at 5 Rue J. J. Rousseau. His last address was 17 Rue du Faubourg in Montmartre. Robert knew the Swiss gun inventor Jean Samuel Pauly, who was granted a French patent for a breechloading gun ignited by fulminate of mercury in 1812. Pauly’s gun had reusable brass cartridges with a tiny depression in their…

This is a truly innovative pheasant recipe from the talented Archie Clark, chef director of the fabulous Kochi Kitchen, which is currently taking London by storm with its authentic, vibrant dishes at supper clubs and bespoke events all over town. Archie is a keen supporter of the Country Food Trust and was one of the first chefs to sign up to the Trust’s recipe initiative. This was designed to assist chefs working in charity kitchens to make great use of the game meat that the Trust is providing to people in need around the UK. Archie’s lifelong love of food segued into the desire to feed others when travelling in Kerala. His own words perhaps best describe how he is making a name for himself in the vibrant London foodie…

Latin name: Fritillaria meleagris Common name: Snake’s head fritillary Other names: Chequered daffodil, drooping tulip, guinea flower, leper lily How to spot it and where to find it: If you are lucky to find one, you will know it; the unusual chequered flowers of the snake’s head fritillary are distinctive. Nodding from thin stems, the bell-shaped blooms are purple, pink or white, and the plant has lance-like, greyish-green leaves. It loves wet meadows, the most famous of which is behind Oxford University’s Magdalen College, which has thousands of them flowering each spring. Interesting facts: Children used to pick armfuls of this delicate flower — which grew in great numbers in the wet meadows of the river Thames — to sell at Covent Garden market for a few pennies. A perennial…

Armed at about the age of 14, the moment had come and I was asked on a boundary day. The slightly marginal morning drives yielded few opportunities and those presented were thoroughly missed each time. By lunchtime I had reached near desolation and knew I would never, ever hit a pheasant. The loader with whom I was standing had also lost hope. At this point the Land Rovers diverted to what I knew to be a very busy part of the shoot and to my surprise I found myself shuffled to the middle of a line of Guns in a plantation of coppiced chestnut. I knew that the game had changed and within 10 minutes the first bird came my way. My instructor must have longed to hold the end…

1 Hawker Prym1 camo jacket RRP £169.99  gb.seeland.com Available from Seeland in July, this jacket is suitable for everything from stalking in Ross-shire to pigeon shooting in Devon. The camouflage is versatile and can blend into most backgrounds. There are also trousers, gloves and a face mask in the Prym1 range to complete the look. 2 Fish4Dogs salmon cookies RRP £3.75 for 75g  www.fi sh4dogs.com Every dog deserves a tasty reward after a successful retrieve while training. These salmon cookies are highly nutritious and the Shooting Times dogs couldn’t get enough of them. With just a couple of these treats a day, your dog will be racing back to you when the season rolls around. 3 Greys GTS 900 fly reel RRP £219.99  www.greysfi shing.co.uk This brand-new…

30 MAY LOADERS COURSE Royal Oak, Northampton www.nationalgame keepers.org.uk 6 JUNE WORKING FOR WADERS DAY Threepwood, Galashiels Tel 0131 370 8150 8-9 JUNE AVALON GUNS OPEN WEEKEND Mendip Shooting Ground, Wells nick@avalon-guns.com 12 JUNE SHOOT WALK Cathpair, Galashiels rdonaldson@gwct.org.uk 27 JUNE WALES & BORDER COUNTIES HOUND SHOW Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Powys, Tel 01267 237812 5 JULY FERRET RACING Albury, Tring po.st/ferretracing…

A win for Winser British Shot Mark Winser has won the European FITASC Championship in Hungary, scoring 191 points in the men’s category. Nick Woodward, chairman of BICTSF — the national governing body of international clay target shooting in the UK — said: “Mark’s performance was formidable. On the final day of the event Mark secured his place as the European champion with a 50 straight, putting him on top, four targets ahead.” John Brown’s royal rifle on display An Alexander Henry rifle given to gillie John Brown by Queen Victoria for Christmas in 1873 will go on public display for the first time at the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh. The provenance of the .450 double-barrelled hammer rifle is shown by a gold plaque on the butt. Mr…

In dry summer weather, when the worms are living deep and other foods are scarce, badgers can take to maize in a big way. Those soft milky cobs are a real draw and a well-grown maize block can be flattened in no time. Once this happens there is not much to do, but you can avoid the problem in future by growing something that they do not like. Another alternative is to choose a late-maturing maize, perhaps holding back on the sowing date by a week or two. Most specialist game cover suppliers will offer such a variety, often referring to it as “cobless”. As well as avoiding attack by badgers by not offering milky cobs at a hungry time, they will not attract rats, rooks or pigeons either, since…

A rabbiting dilemma FERRETING Q I have been given a permission on a farm, but the number of rabbits has dropped drastically. This is giving me a moral dilemma: do I leave the rabbits that are there to breed, or continue ferreting and shooting them? A After talking to a number of people from around the country, I can tell you that this conundrum is far more common than you might think. Those from outside the world of country sports and the countryside find it difficult to get their head around just how much we respect the rabbit. Yes, we spend our lives trying to curtail its existence, but we also hold it in high regard. Many people have left alone areas containing rabbits in the hope that the rabbits…

Terrier races at country shows are a hoot. Often, as soon as the gates open, all the fierce little critters ignore the fox tail being pulled past and instead turn in on each other. Cue shouts, cheers and laughter as owners wade in and attempt to unpick the snarling mayhem without losing a finger. It is a sort of country show tradition. And it is an apt analogy for the behaviour of a section of the British shooting community when their sport comes under attack. This tendency is aided and abetted by the characteristics of social media where, in the words of Sam Leith in The Spectator, “any fool can start a blog, and most of them have”. It is sobering to think that the first reaction of some shooters…