Innholdsfortegnelse for 13-Nov-2019 i Shooting Times & Country

On a wet Dumfriesshire day, I dropped two cartridges into a .410 and looked out over a rushy bog. Standing at my side was 10-year-old Archie Scarborough, who was on a mission to shoot his first snipe. Passing him the gun, I told him to wait until the little birds stopped zigzagging then shoot instinctively. Through the rain, a speck appeared and grew bigger and bigger, until it took form as a snipe and the white underside of its wings could be seen against the dark sky. As Archie went to raise his gun, the bird turned and flew out of sight. I’ve always thought that wild sport, from snipe to grouse to walked-up woodcock, represents the very best of shooting. Reading through this issue, I felt two things. First,…

14 NOVEMBER ABBEYSTEAD GAME CELEBRATION EVENING Abbeystead Village Hall Abbeystead po.st/BASCgameeve 15 NOVEMBER CHELTENHAM COUNTRYSIDE RACE DAY Cheltenham Racecourse, Prestbury, Gloucestershire po.st/CAraceday 17 NOVEMBER BASC WALES WILDFOWLING CONFERENCE Gower Golf Club, Gowerton po.st/BASCfowlingWales 16-17 NOVEMBER EMERGENCY FIRST AID AT WORK FOR SHOOTERS (EFAW) Glenwherry Hill Farm, Ballymena, Co Antrim po.st/BASCfirstaid 8 DECEMBER SHOTGUN AND CHELSEA BUN CLUB Park Lodge Shooting School shotgunandchelsea bunclub.co.uk/events 13 DECEMBER GAME MEAT HYGIENE COURSE Lackham College, Wilts po.st/NGOhygieneWilts…

New master of the Proof House Roddy Richmond Watson, whose family founded the West London Shooting School, has been appointed as the new master of the Proof House. Operated by the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, it tests firearms before sale, certifies them as deactivated and helps investigate firearm malfunctions. Mr Richmond Watson, who has a long and distinguished record, takes over at a crucial time, as a shift away from lead shot towards alternatives might mean some guns will need a different proof. Russian woodcock due on full moon Satellite-tracked woodcock Fontihill Abbey two is continuing her journey to winter in the UK. The bird, which left western Russia a few weeks ago stopped for a while in Latvia but has now reached Germany. If she follows the typical route…

For the past five years I have been trying to restore a hay meadow on the edge of the Solway Firth. With advice from neighbours and specialists, I spent several summers eyeballing the beauty and diversity of wildflower meadows in Galloway. I took action last summer when the silage was cut. This is an important field for my farming project; you could call it the engine room that powers my steadily expanding herd of suckler cattle. I depend on the grass that comes from those six acres, which gently descend into a network of creeks and saltings where wigeon come for the winter. Before I took it on, the field was worked hard with nitrogen fertilizers and it has been reseeded with commercial rye grass varieties, which gradually saw off…

“Many areas still show a downturn in ‘squishy’ bugs that are essential feeding for chicks” Gaddictive and infuriatingly mercurial benchmark of conservation success —or failure. The moment you take an active role in their welfare and the enhancement of their habitat, you have fallen down a rabbit hole. The brief moments of joy when you see a healthy brood in summer or a covey starburst over the Guns in October are countered by months of despair as they shun your patch and disappear to who knows where. The grey partridge is like the hedgehog. Both have lived in these isles since time immemorial. Yet neither has successfully adapted to the changes imposed on them by man. While badgers have boomed, foxes found fecundity and pigeons proliferated, the poor old partridge…

First introduced into the United Kingdom in 1860, the Tapanese branch of the sika deer has done rather well for itself here in the interceding years. It is not the only sika, however, as there are 13 sub-species listed and many of them are in very serious trouble, verging on extinction, in what was their native homelands, with doubt over the integrity of some sub-species due to interbreeding. Of those on the IUCN red list, most do survive in captivity and there have been moves to get some of them back into the wild in at least some of their range. Tapan, Taiwan and the east Asian mainland is their original homeland. Like many other animals, it is only from captive populations that the survival of entire species now depends…

KINOS SWEATER This wool sweater is very versatile and would work just as well in a London pub for Christmas drinks as it would on a shoot day in the Highlands. It would also keep you warm and comfortable as an underlayer on those cold winter days. Available in sizes XS-XXXL. GUARDIAN CANTERBURY MOTOR SHOTGUN CASE The case has been designed to keep your shotguns safe during transport in spaces that a traditional shotgun case would be awkward to fit. It achieves this by storing the barrel directly above the stock, which also gives you plenty of room in a hidden compartment for your cleaning kit. GLASS WHISKY TUMBLER SET OF 2 This whisky tumbler set is an ideal gift for that sportsman who enjoys the odd tipple and has…

ONE OF MY FIRST assignments for Shooting Times, more years ago than I care to remember, was covering the Morecambe Bay Wildfowlers’ Association. I caught the train from Liverpool Street to Morecombe, where a member of the club picked me up from the station. We were only a mile or two into the journey when our Land Rover — it was a Defender, but they weren’t called that then — collided with another car. I recall it was my driver’s fault, so it was all rather embarrassing, as it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been kind enough to collect me. The following morning I was scheduled to go out for a morning flight on the foreshore. At 5am I was collected again, this time from my hotel, by another…

Drawing a blank on ferrets FERRETING Q When ferreting lately, we have been getting a few blanks and we do not have a dog to mark the warrens. Is there a way I can easily tell if a warren is occupied or not? A I would love to be able to say yes, but alas I am afraid I cannot lie. A good indication of a warren being used isn’t always as straightforward as you might think. For instance, a warren could look empty but is actually well used. Leaves on the ground can also mask a rabbit’s presence. On the other hand, a warren could be used a lot, but if a stoat or a weasel has just dropped by, it’s likely to be empty. What you should look…

Overnight sound recording is one of the new tools being used by birdwatchers in their quest to understand more about migration. This software allows you to identify bird calls, so you don’t have to listen back to a night’s recordings. One of the species under scrutiny because of ‘nocmig’– the project to study nocturnal migration — is the common scoter. By day, they are dark, fairly featureless sea ducks, found in rafts some way offshore. Females are dull brown and males almost black. Common scoters are thought to travel across Britain when moving between breeding areas in Scandinavia and Russia. Flocks are sometimes seen crossing between the North Sea and the Irish Sea by day, but sound recording has shown the night skies are busy in autumn and spring.…

There has been an exodus from the House of Commons in advance of the general election. More than 60 MPs have announced they will not be standing and there might be more to come. Some have put this down to the increasingly hostile and even threatening atmosphere that surrounds politics at present. Female MPs, they say, feel particularly vulnerable. Is this valid? Or is it a line being spun by those who have spent more than three years trying to block the largest exercise in direct democracy in the UK’s history and are now jittery about facing the electoral music? Words like ‘rats’ and ‘sinking ship’ come to mind. Perhaps I am being unfair. Certainly, one or two very good MPs have called it a day. Labour’s Kate Hoey is…

CHECK Dig out your snow chains and put a shovel in the car. With winter setting in and snow a real possibility, make sure your vehicle is prepared. For areas with frequent heavy snow, a set of snow chains, one for each driven wheel, will make sure you don’t miss a day of shooting. If you only get occasional snow, tyre socks are an easier option. A shovel can also help dig you out of a sticky situation. MEDICAL Remember cold weather can put a significant additional strain on gundogs. A long cold, wet day can be exhausting and hypothermia is a potential threat. Ensure you have the means to dry your dog and a ready supply of a high-energy food when you are in the field. Consider feeding dogs…

NO RETALIATION In order for me to hold on to my shotgun licence, I must not stand up for myself verbally or in self-defence, I must accept abuse in all its forms and not retaliate in any way. If I saw youngsters doing damage to a property I should ignore it and not get involved. If I were to be involved in an argument that was not my doing, I must back away. If I took action in any of these situations the police would be knocking on my door and confiscating my guns and licence. All this because they say we might use the firearm to retaliate. We are being picked on from all sides these days. What is happening to this country? R. Jones, North Wales DEER REPORT…

Will it ever stop raining? Luckily for the farmers on the estate, our ground is made up of light soil, so all the crops have finally been drilled. Farming practices can be a help and a hindrance on a shoot, depending on the type of birds released and the timings of the work. Working late into the night where large numbers of partridges have been released can cause havoc by spreading the coveys and potentially even running the birds over with machinery. Keeping a good relationship with the farmer on a bit of ground, and helping him out when you can, will help the shoot realise its potential, but sometimes it can be a struggle due to differences of opinion. Recent drillings next to drives can help to hold the…

Like the hero of the film Kes , Greg Hutchings was bitten by the falconry bug as a teenager. “I must have been 12 years old when I climbed a tree to see a sparrowhawk’s nest with five chicks in it. Not long afterwards there was a TV programme about falconry and I was hooked,” he says. Greg and I are sitting in my kitchen drinking coffee while outside on his block, hooded and raring to go, is Kenzie, Greg’s fifth-season peregrine falcon named after one of Greg’s heroes, the wildlife artist and Lincolnshire wildfowler Mackenzie Thorpe. I am are struck by Greg’s enthusiasm as he talks about how he bred Kenzie from a wild female that had been handed into a wildlife reserve with a broken wing. Outside, the…

The body may have been slightly broken, mind weary but my heart was still pumping six to the dozen. Ben Potter and I had just returned from our charity walk in aid of farming organisation You Are Not Alone (YANA) to coincide with world metal health day, accompanied by our lurchers Tawny and Lena. Prior to this we had pencilled in a day for Lena’s first taste of ferreting. Unfortunately, the only free time for both of us was straight after the 110-mile stomp across the Cleveland Way. Our aching limbs helped sculpt the day. It was going to be a short and sweet few hours on the hill showing Lena the mechanics of ferreting, highlighting the contradictions to what she has been taught around her home, and to show…

I’m normally a good internet shopper, confident enough to buy my clothes or even book long-haul flights. However, last week I made a mistake. Coming back from a weekend with friends, I discovered that I had left the dogs’ slip leads behind. No problem. New ones were needed, anyway, so I went online. I like the natural rope slip leads made by the Devon-based company KTK, so went to the Dog Lead Shop to order my new leads. The website was excellent and, as I thought I knew what I wanted, I confidently ordered two 8mm diameter, 0.9m long leads, one in matt blue, one in matt red. As an afterthought I also ordered another 8mm lead, but this time 1.2m long and in a new colour: shiny yellow. The…

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 TONY BUCKWELL Veterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs 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 CIC international trophy judge…

At this year’s Game Fair the major shooting organisations came together to launch a 12-month initiative: the Year of the Gamekeeper 2020, which is aimed at giving the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust (GWT) a vital and much-needed injection of funds. The GWT exists to support our keepers and their families in times of hardship or ill health. I have seen the work they do, and be assured that they change lives and punch way above their weight, given their resources. Where would we all be without our keepers? The countryside has been shaped for generations by their hard work and the vision of their employers, but do we give enough thought at the end of the season, as we put away our guns, to how their lives are affected by the…

Ingredients 1.5KG MIXED OFFAL (SEE P.49) 500G MINCED TRIM 6 CLOVES AND 20 WHITE PEPPERCORNS, GROUND UP 2 ONIONS, VERY FINELY DICED 10 WILD HOPS, CHOPPED 2 TEASPOONS DRIED SAGE 200G BEEF DRIPPING, LARD OR DICED BACK BACON FAT 1 LARGE COOKING APPLE, GRATED 8 CLOVES OF GARLIC CHOPPED PLENTY OF SALT THE METHOD Serves 6 1 Soak the ox bung in clean cold water for a few hours, then rinse. 2 Place all the other ingredients in a large bowl and, using your hands, mix well so everything is blended. 3 Take a small amount of the mixture and fry it quickly, then taste to check the seasoning, adding more if necessary. 4 Stuff about a pound of the mixture into the ox bung, using string to…

KEEPING WARM, DRY AND HEALTHY With winter here, and the onset of another season, my thoughts turn to keeping warm, dry and healthy. The choice of clothing available on the market now is staggering to that of a decade ago, but is it right for you? I have used everything from cheap to expensive, wax to synthetic and, depending on your ferreting ground, a few may not be the essential components that you are looking for. Ferreting highlights some of the worst aspects of clothing and exposes many others. You could be going through hedges and lighter material could rip. You are moving about, digging and then standing still. If you are sweating, then it’s a base-layers day, not a huge jacket and jumper. Leggings for the wet and a…

A Scotch egg is a wonderful thing. I always think that a couple of them make a meal all on their own. And if you’re adventurous in the kitchen you can alter them depending on your taste and the various types of game available throughout the year, until your hungry heart’s content. “Serving these with a Bloody Mary at elevenses is a sure way to keep guests happy” However, despite being the sort of easy eating that you find at a country pub, there are a couple of golden rules that must be adhered to. The first one is that the yolk must not be too well cooked; it must retain a bit of runniness. The second is that there ought to be enough meat to make the whole thing…

Latin name: Fraxinus excelsior Common name: Common ash Other names: European ash, ache How to spot it and where to find it: As the deciduous trees of Britain shed their leaves, identifying them can be more difficult. However, the ash sprouts large velvety dark grey or matt black buds, which are easy to spot. A member of the olive family, it has a recognisable silhouette; the lower branches hang down but have upturned tips. Interesting facts: In these gender-fluid days, the ash is completely woke: some are male, some are female, and others produce both male and female flowers on the same tree. Male one year, the tree can produce female flowers the next. Reaching a height at maturity of around 35m, ash trees live for up to 400 years.…