Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-Oct-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

Last weekend, I stood among the willows on the edge of my pond, full of hope that all those duck I’d seen the previous evening were somewhere in the sky, winging their way back to my patch. We weren’t waiting long. As soon as the rooks had flown back to their roost, the sky came to life with mallard dropping in from on high. Later, I posted a picture on social media of a brace of duck plucked for the freezer, with a caption about taking a dim view of those who lazily breast birds and throw the rest away. It’s always hard to know how people will react online but the sentiment seemed to chime with all sorts, from farmers, to foodies, to ornithologists. We shouldn’t pretend there aren’t…

CHECK Monitor feeding on flightponds; duck are still arriving in significant numbers and a well-fed flightpond can pull them in for you. But more feed does not necessarily mean more duck. Anything less than a couple of hundred mallard will be held by a bucket of barley a day. If you are not drawing in duck, try leaving a couple of decoys on the water until the duck start arriving. SHOOT Keep in-season bitches away from shoots. With the game season heading towards its peak, well-trained dogs will be in demand for beating and picking-up teams across the country and it can be tempting to risk an in-season bitch in the field. However, her presence can be very disruptive and distracting for other dogs.…

The consensus among ecologists that booming predator numbers are not harming songbird populations may be wrong, according to the latest science. The role of predators in songbird declines has long been a contentious issue. A comprehensive review of the factors leading to songbird declines in 2002 claimed that predation was not a significant factor. However, that review has been re-examined in a new paper, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, which suggests that predation cannot be dismissed as a cause. Its author, Dr Christopher Bell, concluded that, “in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the impact of increased numbers of predators therefore remains a viable hypothesis in relation to the bird population declines that occurred in Britain and elsewhere during the last quarter of the 20th century”. Dr…

It’s late October and the migrants are very much on the move. While you might see an odd late swallow, most of the summer visitors are well and truly away by now, while quiet nights are full of the sounds of winter visitors. I always look forward to the first ‘tseep’ calls of the migrating redwings high above. They either travel widely spaced or there are lots of them up there, judging by the calls right, left and centre. This, too, is the time when the rough shooter might flush a snipe almost anywhere. I have kicked them out of a picked-over strawberry field, a clump of nettles on the top of a chalk down, a tank rut on Salisbury Plain and even a dry wheat stubble on the home…

Though the rifle may be a little heavy for some, I like it. Some of the longer/heavier 42-gr truncated ammunition was tricky to feed, but I can forgive that because the rifle was just amazing to shoot with all the other ammo. It was highly accurate, as expected, with a great trigger and stock design. Despite its relatively high price, I would say it is worth every penny. 20/20 Accuracy Unbelievably accurate 17/20 Handling Heavy but well balanced 18/20 Trigger Crisp and adjustable 18/20 Stock Solid and adjustable in all the right places 18/20 Value Good value — or buy a barrelled action and customise it 91/100 Overall score Heavy but highly accurate and amazing to shoot…

THERE’S NO QUESTION that the most successful mammal on earth is Homo sapiens, but not far behind is Rattus norvegicus, or what we generally refer to as the brown rat. Its success in colonising the world is almost entirely due to its relationship with man. Where man goes, the rat follows. Brown rats are relatively new arrivals here in Britain and are not thought to have reached these isles until about 1728 or 1729. At the time, they were rumoured to have arrived in Norwegian timber vessels, hence the old name of Norway rat, but the Norwegians are blameless. It seems most likely that those pioneering rats had stowed away on ships sailing from Russian ports, because most mammalogists believe that the brown rat originated in Asia, possibly China, from…

Meat with meat sauce sounds a little left field. While a stew is essentially the same thing, the concept of serving a ragu-style braise with a roast is unsettling. This recipe originated from northern Italy. It is a sweet-sour concoction of sautéed chicken livers to serve with gamebirds, including guinea fowl. I found the recipe in a book by a fellow Dorset cookery writer, Anna Del Conte. I have admired Anna since I met her many years ago. I was working in a bookshop that sold only books about food. The marvellous Clarissa Dickson Wright was the manager. “Anchovy is a partner to chicken livers that goes back eons and acts as a seasoning” Anna had recently written Secrets From An Italian Kitchen, a seminal book with unusual-sounding recipes that…

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…

I once visited a man who was doing up an old cottage in a national park. He was moaning about the rigours of the planning process. Knowing the need for a bat survey is a source of irritation, I asked him if he had any problems with bats. “Not really,” he said cheerfully, “except that the little buggers are surprisingly hard to hit with a tennis racket.” When I gently reminded him that I was a member of the national park authority board, he hurriedly added that he was only joking. Perhaps he was. The fact is that draconian protection legislation has made bats deeply unpopular with certain people. The crux of the problem is that nobody gets rewarded for having bats. Instead, you might be put to a great…

10–11 NOVEMBER WILD BOAR CERTIFICATE Thoresby estate, Nottingham bit.ly/BASCwildboar 12 NOVEMBER INTRODUCTION TO GROUSE SHOOTING Latchingdon, Essex eastern@basc.org.uk 14-16 NOVEMBER DSC1 COURSE Falkirk, Stirlingshire bit.ly/DSC1Falkirk 15 NOVEMBER LADIES CLAY SHOOT Eastway Clay Shoot, Witheridge, Devon shotgunandchelseabunclub.co.uk/events 15–16 NOVEMBER BASIC METALLIC CARTRIDGE RELOADING Longparish, Hampshire 01244 573018 7 DECEMBER RODENTICIDE USE FOR GAMEKEEPERS Online training bit.ly/NGOevents…

I was extremely pleased to see two letters highlighting the environmental disaster being caused by HS2 construction (Letters, 2 and 30 September). I live near the famous Savay carp lake in the Colne Valley between Harefield and Denham. HS2 is currently in the midst of destroying this beautiful location, which is rich in wildlife, seemingly forever. Marsh harriers and ospreys have been seen here several times in recent years and the otter is making a remarkable comeback, plus Savay provides a wintering haven for wildfowl such as scaup. But there is absolutely no respect for the natural world whatsoever. It is truly repugnant to witness. With HS3 and HS4 in the planning, one of them designated to link the various cities in the north, how will this affect grouse moors,…

Flicking through the dogeared pages of an old shooting diary is a pleasant way to spend a spare half an hour. The further back the stories go, the better. Only recently I found a small, hardback volume from my youth. Its entries, mostly relating to pigeon shooting exploits, are sporadic and vary in detail. The usual points — crop type, location, weather, gun, cartridges, company, bag — are all covered, but most interesting are the nuggets of information that allude to a mindset that is constantly being shaped by experience. Over time, scribbled observations about my quarry’s behaviour replace or supplement those on bag size and cartridge choice or how well I shot. It got me thinking, how does our attitude towards fieldsports change as time goes by? When we…

In 1853, Britain issued a percussion rifle musket to all infantry regiments in the Army. Hitherto, rifles had been issued only on a small scale to designated regiments such as the famous 95th, which used its Baker rifles and flexible light-infantry tactics to wreak havoc during the Napoleonic Wars. Line infantry regiments still fought in linear formations and used smoothbore muskets to deliver mass fire at short ranges. The universal issue of a rifle musket was an admission that accurate fire from individual soldiers acting on their own initiative was the way that infantry tactics were heading. That said, rigid linear formations were still very important and it would take decades for them to be dispensed with entirely. The American Civil War (1861 to 1865) was mainly fought with rifle…

Thanks to the ongoing quest to find a vaccine against coronavirus, most of us are better informed about vaccines than might otherwise be the case. We understand, for example, that a vaccine usually contains a tiny dose of the disease that it’s designed to protect us from and it’s not unusual to end up with symptoms of the disease after the vaccination. These are usually mild, so not something to worry about. I used to be punctilious about having jabs before travelling to remote parts of the globe. Many years ago, in preparation for a safari to tropical Africa, I had jabs for the various diseases my doctor thought that I might encounter. I felt so ill 24 hours later that I almost convinced myself that I wouldn’t go anywhere…

Latin name: Torilis japonica Common name: Upright hedge parsley Other names: Scabby head How to spot it and where to find it: The latest flowering of our three native Apiaceae, upright hedge parsley also has the greyest foliage and stiffest stem, with a small leaf at every branching. Its frothing creamy flowers appear from July to September, followed by the fruits, which are a purplish brown and covered in hooks. As well as in hedgerows, it is found in grassy habitats, particularly on limestone. Interesting facts: Upright hedge parsley is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae). The species is hermaphrodite — having both male and female organs — and is pollinated by insects, as well as being self-fertile. It is a food plant for the grizzled skipper and small…

1 House check British leather flask RRP: £75 cordings.co.uk Envelop yourself in a warm glow on the field with this practical and handsome flask wrapped in a tweed design. Fill it with sloe gin or some equally useful ‘purely medicinal’ tipple to keep the British weather at bay. 2 Cambridge classic shirt RRP: £69.95 schoffelcountry.com A classically tailored and beautifully finished 100% cotton shirt in a check design with tonal collar and cuff trim lining. The shirt is designed with an added lift in the arms for country sports. The fit is straight cut and there is a choice of four colours. 3 Leather field bar RRP: £900 johnrigbyandco.com Supremely practical as well as stylish, the field bar ensures you have everything you need to refresh yourself…

Fast-acting police officers have arrested a man in connection with a series of suspected dog thefts in Perthshire — only 24 hours after the crime was committed. A terrier was snatched from the home of a keeper near Meikleour, on the banks of the Tay, last Tuesday morning. The dog’s owners were able to photograph the vehicle they believed was being used and to get a description of the suspected thief. A car matching the description was later found abandoned. A few hours later three dogs were snatched from the home of another gamekeeper near Dunkeld around 10 miles from the site of the first theft. The dogs included a liver-and-white springer spaniel and three Jack Russells. Police were rapidly able to locate and arrest a suspect and last Wednesday,…

The RSPCA has prompted fury after one of its inspectors shot an injured goose and left its remains in a shallow river. The goose, which was described as ‘happy’ by a woman who witnessed the shooting, was despatched with what appears to be a semi-automatic and then left. Local wildfowlers were quick to volunteer the services of trained dogs to recover it. However, none had been contacted by the RSPCA at time of press. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @SHOOTINGTIMESUK…

A female celebrity tweets: “According to my nipples summer is over.” I can’t say I’ve noticed. Perhaps we men don’t have the same seasonal indicators, but it is certainly getting a lot colder. Normally, I get depressed at this time of year as we fend off for as long as possible the winter regime of feeding and bedding housed cattle and dealing with mud and muck, while anxiously eking out the last of the grazing in drier fields. But this year I can barely contain my excitement. The new dairy rises like a temple to a sacred bovine deity and the anxieties are over whether it will be on time and fit for purpose. The law of averages suggests that we will soon be driven off the land by the…

SMOKELESS DIAMOND The development of the cartridge was in lockstep with the improvement of available powders. One of the popular brands was Smokeless Diamond. This was a 33-grain bulk powder described as ideal for loads for “modern short- and medium-range gameshooting. A ‘fast’ powder which is comfortable to shoot.” Smokeless Diamond was the first completely gelatinised bulk powder made by pressing plastic nitro-cellulose through holes in a die, slicing it into black, saucer-shaped flakes. Each flake was porous, creating a hard and homogeneous powder, resistant to climatic variations and easily ignited by the cap flame. A common 12-bore cartridge load for gameshooting was 33 grains of Smokeless Diamond in a 2½in case with 1 1/16oz lead shot.…

The harvest of 2020 seems so far away now, even though it was only a few weeks ago. The rate of change that occurs in the lowland arable landscape is unbelievable. One minute, a combine harvester vanishes down the track, only to be replaced by cultivation units that in a matter of hours turn the classic view of an autumn stubble field into a brown and barren landscape. It’s a wonder that any wildlife ever wants to inhabit the area again. This rapid and disruptive operation is so clinical, ruthless and disturbing, it’s a wonder that any bird survives to see the first shoots of the new crops emerge into the next phase of the modern farming cycle. Economics and the need to strive for profitability seem to drive the…