Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Aug-2016 i Shooting Times & Country

I was lucky enough to enjoy the fruits of the grouse run on the Glorious Twelfth for the first time this year. I got to The Punchbowl pub in London at 6pm and only had to wait for an hour before the grouse arrived, hand-delivered from Yorkshire where they had been shot that morning. Within half an hour we were sitting down to a delicious feast cooked to perfection by head chef Mark Caplin. The Punchbowl is part of the Epicurean Collection, which comprises 19 beautiful country inns across the south of England. All the inns champion game and welcome shooting parties in the season, and it was great to see them continuing the tradition of the grouse run (see p.5). One of the other diners, Jose Souto, senior chef…

Rock star Clapton hooks record fish Veteran rock star, and avid Shot and angler, Eric Clapton (pictured) caught a 28lb salmon that turned out to be the largest catch of the summer, in Iceland’s Vatnsdalsá river. The fish measured an impressive 42.5in and it took the musician two-and-a-half hours before he was able to reel it in. Correction In our 3 August issue, we referenced reports that Co Down clayshooter Terry Fitzsimmons was killed following an accidental discharge of his own gun, but new information suggests the exact cause of the accident remains unclear. Shooting Times extends its sympathies to Mr Fitzsimmons’s family. Rising trap star dies Seventeen-year-old Olympic trap shooter Isabelle “Izzy” Docherty (pictured ) has died after a battle with cancer. The young Shot won the Ladies Novice…

“Taking sides with LACS will lose the RSPB more friends, members and wildlife than it will gain” If you follow @CA_Shooting on Twitter, you might have seen a few blows exchanged between the RSPB and Countryside Alliance last week. Summing up an issue in 140 characters can be a touch difficult, so we thought it best to lay out our concerns regarding recent moves by various RSPB staff members in more detail here. Since the petition to ban driven grouse shooting reached the threshold to be considered for a Parliamentary debate, individuals at the RSPB have warmly congratulated the petition organisers and committed the organisation to working alongside them to brief politicians before any debate that might result. This is a cause for concern for a number of reasons. First,…

I was absolutely delighted when Shooting Times’ former game chef Mark Hinge sent me an email asking about a little flintlock pistol he had bought. The Shooting Times contributor network relies on a lot of cross-fertilisation to make sure that what we write to inform, educate and entertain you, the reader, is up to speed. For example, Lewis Potter and I routinely get in touch over gun-related issues and pick each other’s brains. This just goes to show that nobody has a monopoly on knowledge; anyone who fancies that he has is an arrogant fool who is riding for a fall. An elementary approach Mark was puzzled by the name on his pistol. He also wanted a source for missing parts and an approximate date. All this is meat and…

Short but merry lives WILDLIFE Q I’ve always been intrigued as to how long butterflies live. If a short-lived species emerges during a period of wet weather when it can’t fly, does it simply die without having bred? A Our longest-lived butterflies are the species that over-winter as adults: the brimstone, small tortoiseshell, comma and peacock. These butterflies emerge in the summer, feed for a few days, then go into hibernation. This can be as early as July or August, and they will not emerge and fly again until roused by a sunny, warm day the following March. They will then fly for as long as four weeks. As they age, their colours fade, and their wings get rubbed and frayed from encounters with other butterflies and even from brushing…

The ring ouzel is the mountain version of the blackbird, distinguished by the white (male) or light (female) collar of feathers and a contrast between back and wing feathers. In early summer, the song of the male echoes around the upland crags and scree slopes in which the female builds her nest. As the breeding season comes to an end, ring ouzels become less visible, with adults and youngsters undergoing moult. However, come the end of August, you may well see small flocks in rowan trees or feeding on other hillside berries, as birds fatten up for their southwards migration. They will spend the winter in mountainous regions of North Africa, travelling around in loose groups and feeding on insects and berries, particularly juniper. The ring ouzel is red-listed, following…

“If a Parliamentary debate is triggered then we shall welcome the opportunity to broadcast the facts” Shooting organisations say the public has been misled, but welcome the chance to state their case, after a Government petition to ban driven grouse shooting passed the 100,000 signatures required to be considered for a Parliamentary debate. The petition was launched by former RSPB conservation director Dr Mark Avery, with the support of Eduardo Gonçalves, CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports, and TV presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Bill Oddie. According to the petition: “Grouse shooting for ‘sport’ depends on intensive habitat management which increases flood risk and greenhouse gas emissions, relies on killing foxes, stoats, mountain hares and so on in large numbers, and often leads to the deliberate illegal killing…

PRE-ORDER Shooting Times contributor Tom Payne’s new book The Pigeon Shooter’s Diary is out on 29 September, but is available to order now at an RRP of £20. Tom covers everything from descriptions of the birds to the equipment you will need to get them into the bag. He also offers an in-depth guide to fieldcraft, reconnaissance and shooting instruction. COMPETE BASC has launched a photo competition in celebration of the start of the grouse season. Submissions will be accepted until Wednesday, 31 August. To enter, simply tweet your image of anything that is generally related to grouse shooting, under the hashtag #twelfie. The winner will receive a grouse jacket worth almost £700 from James Purdey & Sons. BUY If you have £1.3million to spare and fancy running your own…

Rural organisations have paid tribute to Gerald Grosvenor, the late Duke of Westminster, following his unexpected passing at the age of 64 two weeks ago. The Duke was a keen shooter and conservationist who did much for the countryside. He died on the afternoon of Tuesday, 9 August at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire. It is understood that the Duke had a heart attack at Abbeystead House, his grouse shooting estate near Lancaster. Liam Bell, the newly elected chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO), said he was saddened by the news. “He was a longterm supporter of the NGO and shared our aims and vision for the future of gameshooting and gamekeeping,” he said. “He took a keen interest in all that we did and was someone who…

Sandy Reid (pictured third from left ), a 73-year-old retired deer stalker on Atholl estates in Perthshire, has been awarded the Ronnie Rose Trophy by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, for his years of dedication to conservation and education. The team pictured below won a simulated game day organised by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) at the Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire. The day raised £18,000, which will help fund scientific research. Dog owners in Scotland have been warned to keep their pets on leads in rural areas after an adult roe deer was reported to have been taken down and nearly killed by three greyhounds at Musselburgh Lagoons in East Lothian. Rural areas are only receiving a fifth of advertised broadband speed, says the Local Government Association. According to…

KILLER CATS I read with interest what Alasdair Mitchell had to say about the effect of the domestic cat on Britain’s wildlife (Sharpshoote , 27 July). The answer is pretty obvious — we need to stop the domestic cat from successfully hunting. Having witnessed cats hunt the local wildlife in my area, it seems that these well-fed moggies do it simply for recreation; to pass the time, if you will. They are doing it because of instinct not because they are hungry. How many times have you seen a cat kill something and then just leave it to move on to the next? To lose millions of small animals every year to domestic cats is an awful waste, so why can’t we do something that affects the cat’s hunting, such…

“Boar provide some exciting sport and in due course they produce delicious meat for the table” There has been rumbling in the Scottish press over the past few weeks about the status of wild boar. It’s no secret that we’ve had wild boar in Galloway for the past 10 years or more, but without any official recognition or acknowledgement of these farmed escapees, landowners, farmers and stalkers have had to feel their own way into a form of management that seems to work quite nicely. A new form of shooting has sprung up, and a significant amount of money is now being spent on outfitters who can take you out for a chance at a “Galloway boar”. All of this is perfectly legitimate, and the only real guidance provided to…

OVER THE YEARS I have got the impression that the Kennel Club is as effective as a toothless tiger. True, it may growl and threaten, but rarely does it bite. You may recall that at Crufts this year a German shepherd bitch, Cruaghaire Catoria, won best in breed, despite being in such poor shape physically that she could hardly stand or run. Questions were asked as to whether that dog should ever have been at Crufts, let alone the winner of its class. Surprisingly, the Kennel Club’s vet had passed the dog as having a clean bill of health, despite her sloping back and apparently weak hocks. Stung by the criticism in the national press, the Club’s secretary Caroline Kisko responded at the time by saying: “It’s very disheartening to…

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 rifl e 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…

With their tea-cosy shape and feathered feet, the charming little Pekin has long been one of the most popular of all the bantam breeds. The name is a reminder of the breed’s origins: the first Pekins reached Britain in 1860, having been looted from the Emperor’s Palace at Peking — now Beijing — during the Opium Wars. Little is known of the Pekin’s early history, though the birds we know have shorter legs and more profuse feathering than the early imports, and come in a wide variety of colours, from black to lavender. Pekins are friendly birds that make good pets. The cockerels aren’t aggressive, so it’s possible to keep two or three together without them fighting. The hens lay well in the spring and summer, but are prone to…

Rural organisations have criticised RSPB Scotland after it accused moorland managers of killing golden eagles in the Monadhliath mountain range without evidence. In a press release issued earlier this month, RSPB Scotland said that eight golden eagles, all fitted with satellite transmitters, had disappeared in the area in less than five years. The statement came after the disappearance of the eighth bird, named Brodie, in early July. The wildlife charity’s head of investigations Ian Thomson said that it is “no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of satellite-tagged birds of prey that have disappeared in Scotland have been in areas intensively managed for gamebird shooting”. He added: “Given the reliability of the transmitters, the chance of so many birds disappearing over such a short timescale without some kind of human interference…

29 AUGUST LOADERS BEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP Cockrup Farm, Caln St Aldwyns, Cirencester Tel 01833 660869 1 SEPTEMBER BUCKS COUNTY SHOW Weedon, Buckinghamshire Tel 01926 680400 3 SEPTEMBER EMMETT & STONE OPEN DAY Wilton Farm, Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire Tel 07780 547955 3- 4 SEPTEMBER HUGH JONES MEMORIAL SHOOT Dovey Valley Shooting Ground, Llanwrin, Machynlleth, Powys Tel 01650 511252 4 SEPTEMBER LINCOLNSHIRE LAND ROVER CLUB OFF-ROAD DRIVING DAY Scopwick Quarry, Lincolnshire Tel 07779 328475 11 SEPTEMBER HAMPSHIRE COUNTRY SPORTS DAY Tichborne Park, Alresford, Hampshire Tel 01752 830430…

“The stubble is streets ahead in being able to provide for the needs of wildlife than cold, bare ploughed fields” Harvest is moving along well with the end almost in sight, which means big chunks of land have been opened up and I have the chance to do a spot of stocktaking: scanning stubbles, counting this year’s game production, especially my broods of beloved wild partridge. It is the first time since early May that I can get an overview of what’s been going on. And, considering the wet, cold spells of weather we had in June, the head count is surprisingly good. I never tire of seeing the partridge coveys on the stubble: it is rewarding to know that this new life has, in no small part, sprung from…

This is a time of the year when I go for walks with my dogs with a pair of secateurs in my pocket. I’m not taking cuttings or trimming back the brambles, but I am attempting to control the burdocks in the areas where I exercise the spaniels. Burdock is a tall weed, best recognised by its very large leaves and distinctive purple flowers that grow on bracts. Those flowers develop into the infuriating burrs that stick with remarkable tenacity to clothes and animal fur. The burrs have a special affinity for spaniel feathers and once in place they are very difficult to remove, without resorting to scissors and cutting them out. I remember some years ago watching two spaniel handlers spending the whole of the lunch break cutting burrs…

Fungi: Fly agaric Latin name: Amanita muscaria Common names: Fly agaric, fly mushroom How to spot it and where to find it: One of the most distinctive fungi or “toadstool”, the fly agaric belongs to the genus Amanita, which also includes the poisonous death cap and the edible Caesar’s mushroom. This fungi can be found in woods or beside isolated trees such as birch and pine, and the fruit body — the visible part of the fungi — can be seen from late summer until the first frosts of winter. Fly agaric fungi are mycorrhizal, which means they form a mutually beneficial relationship with their host tree. The tree gets increased absorption of water and minerals; while the fungus has a steady source of carbohydrates. Interesting facts: The fly agaric…

“I have nothing against highly effective people in important jobs getting well paid. That’s not the issue” In June I wrote about how the police have become notorious for covering up their own wrongdoing (Sharpshoote , 8 June). I gave several examples, including my own dealings with a force that tried to conceal the facts about a botched raid on the keeper of a lawfully held goshawk. I held that the problem seemed to lie with a lack of good leadership. The Daily Mail has just published the results of an investigation into chief police officers’ pay and perks. And even after you have stripped away the emotive tabloidese, the bare facts are pretty outrageous. Take holidays, for example. It turns out that chief police officers benefit from a cushy…