Innholdsfortegnelse for 20-May-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

As sport goes it was unremarkable but it’s an afternoon I will always remember. Two days after Boris Tohnson announced lockdown was being eased, I packed the car and set off for an afternoon of pigeon shooting over a hard hit barley field. Ordinarily, an hour on the road is a bleak prospect, but I hit the motorway with a smile on my face and a sense of contentment that I haven’t felt in weeks. Ten minutes after we sat down in the hide, a cuckoo started calling in the scrub behind us and everything seemed right with the world. The birds decoyed sporadically and I found myself thinking of all the very elderly pigeon shooters who are no longer able to get out into the field. Over the years,…

CODES OF PRACTICE It is said our wildlife is becoming more bold as the lockdown keeps people indoors and vehicles — for the most part at least — off our streets. We’ve always had urban foxes in this London suburb but there do seem to be more of them; my husband and I were kept awake during the bank holiday mini heatwave by their screaming. It reminded me of Captain Ronnie Wallace’s quest for “the first of May fox” in the days before the pernicious 2004 Hunting Act. Capt Wallace was Master and huntsman of the Exmoor which, as a West Country pack, would hunt on into April; the season for most packs ends around the middle of March. There were some who found the idea of a fox caught…

It feels wrong to write this when there is so much misery. But I think the lockdown will be etched on my memory as a glorious spring when we have been able to appreciate the wildflowers and the birdsong without being troubled by the outside world at all. Some call centres have fallen silent, the civil servants have been furloughed and travelling salesmen no longer happen to be passing our door. We would normally have been rushed off our feet by now, dealing with questions, requests and complaints. But, much as we enjoy having people staying in our holiday cottages, we have been guiltily relieved to be getting money for nothing. After some sleepless nights about the lost income, Rishi Sunak’s rescue package was eventually passed on by Holyrood; well,…

My three newly acquired Welsummers pecked avidly at the sourdough crumbs I gently tossed into the coop. This was my third attempt at a sourdough and the third failure. Somehow, I just don’t have the knack. The chickens, however, are thrilled that I am a terrible baker and enjoyed the bread much more than their usual layers’ mash. I had been sold the hens on the promise that they were on the point of lay, but it had been a couple of weeks and there was still no sign of an egg. To me, if a hen is not going to produce eggs, then it would be much better being put in a pie, alongside some leeks and creamy mushroom sauce. My girlfriend, though, has made it very clear to…

POSITIVE PUNISHMENT has long been a commonly used technique in old-school dog training. This simply means using something that the dog finds aversive. This is added to their environment. It can be a word or gesture — such as shouting at the dog or tapping it on the nose — or even something as simple as a stare. These are all forms of punishment that are introduced when the behaviour of the dog is undesired. “Some dogs by nature are more likely to test and push their boundaries” There is a lot of criticism of this approach and rightly so in many cases. Bullying or the physical abuse of any dog is never required. However, used correctly light positive punishment is valuable. Like children, all dogs need boundaries. It is…

During lockdown, it’s been my habit to take my exercise by walking down to the fen with Emma. It’s a stroll of about a kilometre, undertaken on a public footpath from which I am more likely to encounter a grey partridge than another person. The fen is about 40 acres and is mainly reed bed fringed with alders and poplars. It’s a fragment of the extensive valley fens that once separated Suffolk from Norfolk. Once the river engineers and drainers got to work, most of the fens disappeared, leaving just a few survivors. I take my Walkstool with me, a sturdy, Swedish-made folding seat, so I can sit and enjoy the sights and sounds of the fen. It is both a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest,…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country DIGGORY HADOKE Vintage gun expert, firearms dealer, author and journalist 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…

1 Cotton cashmere cable jumper RRP: £129.95 schoffelcountry.com Great for both casual and smart days, this jumper is made from a blend of cashmere and cotton. It features a quarter zip down the front and its ribbed hem and neckline make for the classic country look. Available in a variety of colours and in sizes S-3XL. 2 Saint Hubert rifle slip RRP: £180 Browning.eu This slip’s exterior is brown leather and it can fit any rifle up to 124cm — with a scope attached to it. The interior is lined with thick foam for protection and it comes with a double zip for padlock use as well. It is a great accessory to take with you the next time you head out for a roebuck. 3 Tasco…

Shooting may be a country sport, but most shooters don’t live in the countryside. Depending on your definition, about 83 per cent of the UK population lives in built-up areas. The majority travel daily to and from their workplace. Recently, many have worked from home during the lockdown. But will things ever get back to the way they were, or is the era of the daily commute finally coming to an end? My own view is that being confined to an office for most of your waking hours is a cruel and unnecessary form of punishment. Of course, there are exceptions; if your customers come to you at retail premises, then that’s where you have to be. The same applies if you work in a factory, or a classroom. But…

WATCH Watch a curlew. Wherever you are and whatever lockdown rules you are under, you can enjoy watching a curlew on her nest courtesy of the Curlew country project. The project has set up a camera on a Curlew nest in Wales this year and you can watch the footage live at bit.ly/curlewcam without leaving the comfort of your sofa. CHECK Talk to your local farmers about protecting spring cereals. A large percentage of the country’s wheat crop was sown late this year due to the wet winter, only to be hit by a dry spring. As lockdown restrictions are being eased, now is a good time to talk to farmers and see if they need additional crop protection.…

Regarding Patrick Laurie’s article (Slipping out of our grasp, 6 May), in 1976 my cousin and I had two days of shooting capercaillie with the Forestry Commission near Pitlochry in Scotland. I think it cost £10 a day and we had two forest rangers with us who would walk the trees above us while we walked the rides, flushing out birds for us to shoot. We shot eight over the two days and had two head and necks mounted by a taxidermist to remember them by — eating one is not recommended as they would taste of turpentine. At the time there were lots of birds showing; times have changed.…

Ninety years after it was published, Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter still holds its own as one of the greatest pieces of writing about the British countryside. I first discovered Tarka when I was 13 years old, and I loved the rich, flowing language that followed the life of an otter in the West Country. Crucially, Tarka is not a cute little Disney character, but a real animal with strange and compelling instincts. His world is full of magic, but author Henry Williamson does not dwell upon it unnecessarily in the way many modern writers would. For every moment of joy and pleasure, there is an equivalent note of terror or darkness to match it. In many ways, the book could be read as a story of otter hunting, and…

Recipe kindly donated by Prue Leith CBE Prue Leith CBE has been a restaurateur, chef, caterer, television presenter/ broadcaster, businesswoman, journalist, cookery writer and novelist. She was a judge on BBC Two’s Great British Menu for 11 years, before joining The Great British Bake Off in March 2017. This is one of THOSE recipes — one that would normally be shared in hushed, darkened corridors between furtive-looking people. Clearly, the narrative here is one of cloak and dagger; well, in my head anyway. This “two tins from the cupboard and a bit of hope” kind of cookery always strikes me as an opportunity to whip out the skulduggery dictionary and drag forth a few Dickensian terms to do justice to the black-hearted ne’er-do-wells who have shared such arcane secrets as…

.275 RIGBY Originating as the 7mm Mauser, this cartridge was popularised by Rigby before World War I and continues to be a popular option in the firm’s modern rifles. Also known as the 7x57, it is a moderately recoiling, flat-shooting round, ideal for medium game, from roe deer up to kudu. It was pressed into service, with solids, to account for larger animals by colonial hunters. Big game hunter Walter Bell even shot elephants with it, though that is neither legal nor sensible today. The .275 loaded with 162-gr bullets driven at 2,625fps is a great all-rounder, though it is not as popular today as it once was. The most famous Rigby .275 is the rifle Jim Corbett used to shoot the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag.…

And I put it to you that, as an arm of Her Majesty’s Government responsible for notified sites, you should take science and research into consideration when coming to your decisions. The fact you have chosen to ignore both of those has led you to be in breach of your statutory obligations to preserve and protect the bird populations for which those sites were designated. Those words, if anyone decided to take Natural England (NE) to court for the way it has handled licensing for the management of various species over the years, would, to my mind, be entirely justified. It has been one debacle after another. It is supposed to consult with interested parties before any change in the licensing requirements. It has now failed to do so on…

A secondary school teacher from Blackpool — who has been in school to look after vulnerable children — has been using lockdown as an opportunity to teach his pupils about the countryside and wildlife management. David Jenkinson, who is assistant director of mathematics and assistant director of extended curriculum at Blackpool Aspire Academy, found himself with a group of students and the time to do something different. “Blackpool is in the top five most deprived areas in the country, and young people here are tough and don’t have many opportunities to get out into the countryside,” he explained. “With this in mind I thought, during my reduced timetable of teaching, I would take the opportunity to educate some of the school’s most vulnerable students about the countryside, gundogs and fieldsports.…

Cooking contestant shows lack of pluck A contestant in MasterChef’s Spanish edition has left the show after presenting the judges with a whole, raw grouse in feather. Saray Carrillo — who apparently had a fear of handling birds — ‘served’ the bird garnished with cherry tomatoes. The unimpressed judges declined even to try the dish and Ms Carrillo was asked to leave the show. Calling budding sporting journalists The popular BASC Young Shots Journalists initiative is taking applications for 2021. The programme aims to support young people with an interest in journalism by helping them to fulfil their ambitions and become advocates for shooting. The five successful candidates will be given practical experience working with the BASC communications team and will have their work featured in its magazine. For the…

The world of gundog training is a rapidly changing place and handlers are now more than ever working on improving their dogs’ skills as well as their own. During the COVID-19 lockdown I have sadly not been able to get Sika to me for training, so I am working with the dogs I have here. I have already discussed some very simple training drills handlers can do within the confines of their house to help their gundog work (Enjoy the great indoors, 29 April). But a handler can also work on another vital subject: understanding. This means the handler’s knowledge of training theory. Never before have the vast majority of people had the opportunity to read, learn and reflect on their own skills to such an extent. Most dogs have…

Calum McRoberts is a highly regarded gillie on the Meikleour beat on the river Tay. He started working at Meikleour estate five years ago — before that, he worked on another beat further up the river. “I first fished at Meikleour in 1984. My old dad caught his first salmon that day — a 10lb ‘springer’. We went on to catch five more.” A ‘typical’ day, he said, involves meeting guests in the morning and advising them on the most appropriate tackle and the likely places to fish. “Stick with a beat, learn its differing moods and it will reward your effort” “Methods and places to fish change daily, depending on water heights, time of year and angler’s ability.” What makes a good gillie, I asked. “You need to be…

The lowdown on lurchers FERRETING Q I would like to get a lurcher puppy to help me with my ferreting. This will be my first dog, so what should I look for in a good lurcher? A Looking for a lurcher can be difficult. You never see a trained or part-trained rabbiting dog for sale because, once trained, they are priceless to their owners. I am a staunch advocate of always looking at working strains rather than show or racing strains/owners. The type of lurcher that I like isn’t necessarily going to suit the next person, but the criteria shouldn’t be a million miles out. Start by looking at the breeding. I am a great fan of the collie-cross lurcher because they have a bit of brain, but not too…

Latin name: Orchis mascula Common name: Early purple orchid Other names: Blue butcher, Adam-and-Eve, adder’s grass, Gethsemane, cross flower, ram’s horns, satyricon, keat’s legs, dead man’s thumb How to spot it and where to find it: As its common name suggests, this is the first of the UK’s native orchids to appear. Look out for dark green, blade-like leaves that have lines of darker purple-green splotches. But, once in flower, there is no mistaking it — upright spikes of rich magenta blooms, up to 50 of them per plant. Paler pink or white flowers are sometimes seen, but most are that vibrant purple pink. Interesting facts: It was said to have grown beneath Christ’s cross and those dark splotches on the leaves were his blood. Due to this, the orchid…