Innholdsfortegnelse for 4-May-2022 i Shooting Times & Country

BASC has continued its crackdown on what a former chief executive called “criminals in our midst” with expulsion of another member. The member from Nottinghamshire recently pleaded guilty in court to four wildlife offences and four firearms offences. While BASC has not named the member involved, the crimes match those of a man from Kneeton who pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates Court at the end of January. His offences included the killing of two buzzards caught in a crow trap; the trap had been baited with dead stock doves, which are also protected. The trap was under surveillance by the RSPB, and film it obtained led to a police search. They found evidence of a series of firearms offences, including not securing a shotgun properly, not storing ammunition securely and…

The astute observations of gamekeepers and the latest modern technology are providing insights into the lives of our wading birds. On the North York Moors, a gamekeeper was able to capture on video a much-talked-about but rarely observed phenomenon: a woodcock transporting chicks to new nest sites. The bird was watched and filmed lifting its offspring from a nest and taking them about 60 yards to a new nest. In Scotland’s southern uplands, a trail cam set by a keeper on the nest of a predated lapwing caught the male bird returning to take over incubation duties from his deceased partner and even caught a dramatic nighttime battle between the bird and a rat. There has also been news about Fonthill Abbie II, the GWCT-tagged woodcock whose tag last transmitted…

FIGHTBACK BEGINS Bravo BASC. Just when I thought our leading shooting organisation had become a full-paying member of the Neville Chamberlain Appeasement Society, it has finally stood up to the birdy lot — the RSPB and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust — and said no to an immediate ban on lead(News, 13 April). Soon the game dealers will understand that their move to only accepting steel-shot game will end in only a tiny proportion of birds being brought for sale. There is no medical proof that lead shot has killed anyone by being ingested — NHS records show this. Shot on arable land has little effect on birds. Ingestion by waterfowl of lead shot has been proved to kill and is rightly banned, but some inland shooters still fail to obey…

I’m currently entering week eight of my enforced sabbatical from pigeon shooting. It’s hard to find silver linings except that I’m learning a lot about the anatomy of jaw bones — mandibles — and how long they take to heal, and at least I’ve been able to spend time with friends in the field. It’s a core principle of mine that if you have a pigeon shooting permission, you need to stay on top of the birds no matter what. This means that, over the past few months, I’ve been setting up hides, putting out decoys and inviting mates along to pull the trigger. It will be some time yet before my jaw can take the recoil from my Perazzi. On a windy day a couple of weeks ago, I…

I’m not a great fan of stinging nettles. Many years ago, I took a dog of mine on a training course. The professional trainer tossed dummies into a patch of nettles and suggested to the assembled group of handlers that their dog should retrieve them. As far as I can recall, several of the dogs did as they were told, but when it came to my dog’s turn, I declined to send her, much to the irritation of the trainer. I was asked why. I pointed out that stinging nettles do exactly what their name suggests and that a sure way of discouraging a young dog from retrieving is to send it into a patch of nettles. Fur may give long-coated dogs some protection from the stings, but their pads…

The decline of many a beautiful Victorian shotgun can be traced through its ownership lineage. Ordered by the squire and used on driven pheasant days in polite company, at first. However, the 19th century was so inventive, and progress so rapid, that a gun ordered in 1860 as the pinnacle of firearms development would be positively old hat five or 10 years later and had to be replaced. That lovely pinfire shotgun would either be left in the gunroom and not touched for the next 150 years, or handed to the gamekeeper, who would subject it to much rougher treatment than had his master. When the next hand-me-down made it to the keeper, the old one would go to the gardener, who would be harder still on the gun. Eventually,…

During the past year, nine young dogs started their 12-month training programme with our group, but it hasn’t been an easy time. Unfortunately, the training period coincided with pandemic lockdowns, when Government restrictions meant we couldn’t organise our usual training days. We chose four dogs to take their TA test — a Belgian deer dog examination — in March 2022, which we hoped would give us plenty of time to prepare them. The rest would take their exams in June. We did what we could as the lockdown dragged on, focusing on the theory part, including first aid, firearms management, use of GPS, identifying if the targeted animals had been shot and so on. The result was that the owners were well prepared, but the same could not be said…

I see there are quite a few .30 calibre airgun pellets now for sale for use in FAC-rated air rifles. Would these lighter .30 cal pellets be any good for reloading for close-range vermin? Absolutely, but you really have to be a competent reloader as getting the load right is crucial, not only for ballistics, but accuracy, too. Here are some of the .30 cal pellets I use in my .300 Blackout and .308 Win. The JSB Exact pellets, both 44.75-gr and 50.15-gr, are standard-waisted lead pellets, while Predator Polymag pellets have a red polymer tip in 44.75-gr weight. The FX Hybrid 44.5-gr slug has revolutionised the airgun industry with a highly accurate and very hollowpoint non-waisted profile. They are good for subsonic centrefire use, as seating and crimping the…

Some years ago, a gamekeeper in Co Durham told me he had heard about a scheme to reintroduce pine martens in his locality. “What about my pheasants?” he asked, plaintively. It was my sad duty to point out that nobody in officialdom gave a damn about his pheasants. Or his livelihood. He would simply have to find ways of living with pine martens within the law. These cat-sized weasels can outclimb squirrels. They are the ultimate poultry assassins. And as a fully protected species, they have a licence to kill. I have written before about how wildlife laws operate like a ratchet, only ever moving in one direction. They are administered by great herds of publicly funded officials, who specialise in gold-plating legislation. In the aftermath of Brexit, moves are…

Egg and chick imports from France are hoped to resume as the country’s catastrophic bird flu outbreak finally tails off (News, 27 April). New cases are still being reported in France, though the rate of increase in the crucial Pays de la Loire region has continued to slow. Only three new cases were reported between 19 and 26 April in the Vendée department and only one new case was reported in Loire-Atlantique. Some doubts remain over the accuracy of these figures, as there have been reports that overwhelmed testing laboratories have been slow to clear backlog of cases. However, a trend is now evident. “Scrupulous biosecurity is the most critical form of defence” While the end of the French outbreak appears to be in sight, restrictions remain on egg and…

CHECK Be lungworm aware. With the weather now getting warmer, slugs and snails are much more active. Dogs that eat slugs, snails or frogs, even tiny ones eaten by accident, can catch lungworm from them. Your vet should be able to advise you if a lungworm treatment is necessary in your area and be able to prescribe something appropriate. FISHING Tie up some dry-flies to be ready for Duffer’s Fortnight — that famous window of time when otherwise knowing and cynical trout become suggestible — which is on its way. Classic mayfly patterns are not the easiest to tie, but they are as lovely as they are deadly.…

Regarding Soldier Palmer’s article about woodcock (Carried away by woodcock ‘myths’, 27 April), and his doubts about them carrying their young, I have seen it myself. I was trainee keeper at Chatsworth, and in 1966 the headkeeper’s son and I startled a woodcock brooding her chicks by the side of the ride. She left one on the ground and flew in that awkward fashion, dropping one, but successfully carried two away into the bracken. Paul Smith, by email The Editor responds: It’s amazing and someone captured it on video recently too (see News, p9). They are such fascinating birds. IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALAN PAINE Each week, the best letter wins a pair of water repellent Chorley gaiters supplied by Alan Paine. Visit alanpaine.co.uk for details of your local Alan Paine…

Stalking in commercial forestry is pretty new to me. For most of my career so far, I’ve worked on rocky hills and heather heathlands and I certainly miss that terrain, but this type of stalking is teaching me so many new skills. It requires a keen eye to pick out winter-coated roe on a grey clear-fell, or catch the glimpse of an ear twitch among trees. The thermal certainly helps, but during the buck season so far, almost half of my bucks have been spotted with the naked eye, simply appearing out of the wood in front of me. “This wood has wild boar. I’m obsessed with pigs, so stalking here is a real treat” Though it hasn’t won my heart from the open hill yet, I enjoy almost all…

When I left college, I was full of hope for the future of gamekeeping and my own place within the industry. I’ve become slightly jaded since then, but I do still have hope for the future of the gamekeeper in Britain, though our jobs may end up looking a wee bit different than they do today. Gamekeeping is at heart an amalgamation of various privately funded conservation practices tailored to achieve a goal — a grouse-rich moorland, for example. I’m not going to say all our practices are fantastic in terms of conservation — it would be disingenuous to do so and we should acknowledge that not everything we do is completely devoid of any fault — but this is the same with every human activity. “Emotional headlines foster the…

In rural pubs across the country — the ones that are still open at least — you’ll always find some old boy who’ll tell you life was much better in years gone by. Old keepers often express similar sentiments. I’m not sure, though. In fact, having started my gamekeeping career in the last days of paraffin-fuelled incubators, I reckon that the life of the keeper, to a large extent due to advances in kit, has become much sweeter. True, not all that has changed in the game shooting world has been for the greater good, but the kit we have today undoubtedly saves us time, improves our husbandry and extends the lives of our hips and knees. The incubator in the shed next to my house is a perfect example…

Rabbits are really bouncing back where I live in Somerset. It probably isn’t a sentiment that will be shared by many landowners, but I am delighted to see them making a strong return. Only a few years ago, rabbits became something of a rarity on a lot of my shooting permissions. Populations seemed to disappear almost overnight as haemorrhagic disease took its toll. Fields where rabbits had always been a common sight were suddenly barren and it looked like very bad news for bunnies. Last year, reasonably good numbers returned on most of the ground I shoot over and early signs suggest that this year is set to be even better. The rabbits’ recovery on one farm has been so strong through the spring that it has resulted in one…

Something of an obscure figure in the annals of game shooting history, Reginald Henry Rimington-Wilson, commonly known as R H Rimington-Wilson, was regarded by his peers as the best grouse Shot on Earth prior to the outbreak of World War I. He was also considered to be the joint-second-top Shot in Britain during the Edwardian era, alongside the 6th Lord Walsingham. Owner of Broomhead Moor near Sheffield, one of the most prolific grouse moors in England in the late 19th and early 20th century, he was acknowledged to be one of the leading experts of his day on moorland management, grouse breeding and grouse driving. He sat on the committee of inquiry on grouse disease set up by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1905 to investigate the causes…

One of my long-held ambitions is to see swallowtail butterflies in Britain. Can you advise me of the best place to go? As I’m sure you are aware, in the UK, swallowtails are restricted to the Norfolk Broads, though migrants from the Continent are recorded in counties close to the English Channel, where they have bred occasionally. The British race of the swallowtail (Britannicus) is slightly smaller and darker than continental insects (gorganus). There are a number of nature reserves in the Broads where swallowtails can be seen with some degree of reliability. The RSPB’s reserve at Strumpshaw Fen is one site, but I have enjoyed the most success on the Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Hickling Broad. Here, on a calm and sunny day in early June, you would…

Only the most naive of foragers would try gathering nuts in May, but hedgerows and margins are beginning to come alive with delicious bounty. Good King Henry, broadleaved and kale-like, is now at its most succulent. It’s delicious when steamed like spinach and served with a poached egg. Sprinkle the flowers and emerging tips of sweet cicely over boiled new potatoes and enjoy the aniseed tang. Elder flowers abundantly in early May. Its florets, when boiled with sugar and water, make a delicious free home-brew cordial, or a remarkably expensive shop-bought one. Better still, a somewhat potent sparkling wine can be made from the flowers. While elderflower is believed to give relief from constipation, sinusitis and bronchitis, the wine is notorious for blindingly monumental hangovers, and parts of the plant…

George Digweed has taken the World English Sporting Championship. The multiple World and European champion took the title under floodlights as storm clouds gathered at the USA National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas. Mr Digweed went into the final 25 clays with a single clay lead over the Americans Ryan Harper, Eric Harvey and Anthony Matarese Jnr. Mr Materese appeared to struggle under the pressure, hitting 17 of the last 25 clays. However, his fellow countrymen did better, with a methodical Mr Harvey hitting 20 out of 25 and Mr Harper going one better to break 21. Mr Digweed shot last and the championship was decided on the final pair. The win in San Antonio confirms his status as one of the UK’s most successful sportsmen. Mr Digweed said:…

Over-the-counter rodenticides are poisoning Britain’s wild birds. Brodifacoum, the poison found in the body of a dead white-tailed eagle in Dorset (News, 20 April) has also been detected in 88% of barn owls, and another poison, bromadiolone, is believed to be a major factor in kestrel declines. Both can be purchased online by the general public. Brodifacoum and bromadiolone are types of poison called second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide (SGARs). These poisons were introduced in the late 1970s as rats and mice evolved resistance to existing poisons, such as warfarin. Brodifacoum and other SGARs work by blocking the action of vitamin K and by weakening capillaries; together these effects cause poisoned animals to bleed to death internally. They are highly effective rat poisons, but increasing evidence shows a ‘bioaccumulation’ effect that means…

In the Gospel of Luke, we are told the story of Jesus preaching on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret. He was crowded by the people and so took to a fishing boat to preach just off shore. At the conclusion of his preaching, Jesus encouraged the fisherman, Simon, to put his boat out into the deeper water and cast out his nets. Despite Simon’s protestation that they had fished all night and not caught anything, they believed in Jesus, followed his instruction and subsequently caught so many fish that they had to call a second boat to help them. Many of Jesus’s disciples were fishermen and it therefore seems a reasonable assumption that fishing was an activity approved of by Jesus. It was very much with Luke 5…

With conflict raging again in eastern Europe, we might do well to reflect on the tremendous contribution made to the defence of these islands by those involved in fieldsports. It may seem obvious that those practised in deerstalking or gamekeeping might make an ideal irregular military force, but it was not until the Boer War that such a body came into existence. British officers were faced with the Boer commandos, a skilled mounted enemy who would snipe with great accuracy from extreme range into massed ranks of our soldiers, before melting away into the veldt. This force of Boer farmers had no intention of fighting a conventional war and inflicted grave casualties on the British forces. Something had to be done and tactics changed. The brainchild of Simon Fraser, 14th…

I am certain that if Vogue boasted a conservation column, the gist would be “trees are so hot right now”. Tree planting is one of the Government’s key measures to achieve carbon net zero in the UK by 2030. This sounds as if it is great news for the pheasant. Our most popular gamebird is, after all, a creature of the woods. However, the huge swathes of new plantings that are appearing in all their plastic-guarded glory across the country may be all well and good for carbon, but in many cases they are not actually that great for wildlife. This is because the pheasant, like most other woodland dwellers, is a solar-powered beast. They need the warmth of the sun to get them up and about in the morning.…

With the lambing season in full swing and foxes under pressure to find extra food for growing cubs, it is a vital time for foxers across the country. Those with permissions on sheep farms will be aware of the damage that can be done when the lambs arrive. Likewise, a rogue fox can cause carnage in a release pen. I recently found an active earth close to one of my lambing permissions. A few days of reconnaissance established that at least one fox was using the ground as HQ to take advantage of the newborns in the neighbouring field. I’d assessed the routes the fox preferred to use and so, as the sun set one fine evening, I prepared my foxing kitbag and set out to deal with the culprit.…

As the end of the hedge-laying season draws near, jobs that have been put off until later become pressing. Richard Gould and I struggled for what seemed like weeks with a rough old Norfolk farm hedge. Neglected for years, it was a laborious job and the balmy weather necessitated rolled-up sleeves. Our arms trickled red from countless lacerations. I returned home tired, dusty and bloody, wanting nothing more than a bath, dinner then bed. However, I’d promised the Gipping Valley Young Farmers Club that Gouldy and I would take them on a farm walk around Flea Barn. Regular readers will be aware that I recently volunteered to teach a group from my son’s school all about fieldsports. Not every lad has a father who shoots, so I decided to step…

My observations are confined to south Hampshire, where I have a rough shoot. Usually, each winter, varying numbers of woodpigeons gather to roost at night in a 3½-acre wood there, about a mile from the sea wall. It is rather difficult to understand why this little, quaintly shaped wood should be so favoured by the birds to roost in, when only two or three miles away there are many much larger ones and the New Forest. In shape, it is like a bent pear, with its point towards the prevailing south-west wind. Although named Fir Copse, it is composed of high oak trees to the north end and lower ones towards the point, all grown in together. The fringes are of thick, old blackthorns and willows. There is little or…

VETERINARY CARE We were plagued with slugs and snails in our garden last year and, since then, have acquired a dog. Knowing that slug bait can be poisonous to cats and dogs, I was wondering if there is anything safer that we could use? The active ingredient that is commonly found in slug pellets is metaldehyde. Unfortunately, this is highly toxic to dogs and cats. Even very small amounts, if ingested, can lead to rapidly progressive clinical signs that can often be fatal. After ingestion, metaldehyde is converted by the body to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is toxic to the nervous system and causes muscle tremors, ataxia (lack of coordination) and convulsions (seizures). The intense muscle activity leads to hyperthermia (very high body temperature), which can be another common sign of slug-bait…

Last autumn, I visited the World Hunting Exhibition in Budapest. While I was chatting to a fellow hunter from Denmark, he asked if I had heard of an exhibition of red deer heads that had been held in Glasgow. I have never come across this and have not been able to find any details on it. Can you help? The best-known early exhibition of deer heads was the one held in London in 1913. In 1901, there was a major international exhibition held in Glasgow, as befitted its then status as the second city of the empire. The Glasgow International Exhibition, which was held in Kelvingrove Park (above), took place between May and November 1901. The city also hosted the Scottish Exhibition of Natural History, Art and Industry. G Kenneth…

Now that the weather has warmed up, I have stopped feeding rabbit to my ferrets and have been using a selection of dried ferret foods that are on the market. However, they appear to be going through a lot of water compared with what they drank during the winter. Is there anything wrong with them? No, this is a perfectly normal trait for any animal that is fed a dried biscuit. You should always supply ferrets with more than enough facilities for obtaining plenty of fresh drinking water, especially for the first few weeks after changing their diet. During the winter, when I feed my ferrets entirely on wild rabbit, they appear to drink next to no water, as the moisture within the meat satisfies their thirst. When you swap…