Innholdsfortegnelse for 2-Aug-2023 i Shooting Times & Country

A white-tailed eagle chick has hatched in England for the first time since 1780. The chick is the first offspring from an initial release of 25 birds on the Isle of Wight in 2019. The release has been licensed by Natural England and follows a successful reintroduction programme in the Scottish Highlands, which started in the 1970s. Roy Dennis, founder of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, explained: “Restoring a breeding population in southern England has been our ultimate goal. We knew food for eagles — fish, rabbits, hares and wild birds — was plentiful.” Shoot managers and gamekeepers may have concerns about the species threatened by Britain’s largest bird of prey, however. A 2022 plan to reintroduce the eagles in Norfolk was shelved due to opposition from farmers and conservationists…

ST readers will be relieved to learn that the Duchy of Cornwall is set to release a further 30 curlew in July and August, having already released 60 on Dartmoor to date. As with the lapwing — a bird that has suffered a similar decline in Britain and which nature writer Mary Colwell last month announced was now absent from Dartmoor — curlew numbers have been smashed by predation from crows and changes in land management. The rises in predation are likely resultant of the lack of gamekeepers and effective pest control on Dartmoor. The red-listed curlew’s breeding population has declined by 85% since 1985 in Devon. This year, the Duchy of Cornwall continues to support the conservation of the species and will drive forward the recovery project again this…

Email your letters / stletters@futurenet.com LETTER OF THE WEEK Maize: it’s got to go In your issue of 26 July, both Liam Bell and the Secret Land Agent (SLA) wrote about game covers, an essential feature on every serious shoot. The SLA wrote that the game covers on the estate he manages were found to be some of “the most environmentally unfriendly places on the whole estate”, a statement that doesn’t surprise me. For far too long stands of maize have been the standard game cover, but surely it’s high time that maize was succeeded by crops that have a much broader appeal to wildlife and are also more appealing to the eye? Maize may have the advantage of standing upright to the end of the season, but there’s not…

“Third Gun: Holland & Holland — bought 1889. Bore 1½in — length of barrel 8ft 3in. Load 4oz. Powder; 20oz shot. In 1890 8¼in blew off the end of the barrel. The jagged end was cut off and the gun shot better than ever. Nickel plated 1892.” This is an excerpt from the first page of a gamebook that came into my possession by a circuitous route some years ago. It is the only gamebook I have come across that is laid out specifically for use by a punt-gunner in pursuit of wildfowl, having columns for up to five shots for each recorded outing as well as headings for birds bagged including “Mallard — Teal — Widgeon”, “Geese”, with “Curlew” and “Green and Golden Plover” under “Various”. It is a…

Will Pocklington speaks to some of our leading shooting instructors Sim days have grown in popularity over the past decade and are now hosted all over the country. Barbury Shooting School in Wiltshire was early to the party, having been offering them since 2010, and today puts on more than 100 days a year across five local estates. Huw Tudor Stephens, founder and managing director of the school, has watched simulated game shooting develop from the beginning. I was keen to chat to him about how best to approach these days if our aim is to use them as practice for when feathers are part of proceedings; what should — and shouldn’t — we be doing? Make a plan If you’re striving for self-improvement, it’s all about slowing down and…

THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD One of Suffolk’s greatest sons, Thomas Gainsborough, died on 2 August 1788. Although famed as a portrait artist, the Sudbury man merely painted people to pay the bills. Gainsborough was in part a misanthrope, disdainful of his wealthy patrons, once writing: “...damn Gentlemen, there is not such a set of Enemies to a real artist in the world as they are.” Gainsborough was, however, passionate about dogs and the Suffolk countryside. His landscapes provide an insight into how the county has changed since the mid-18th century — and its working dogs too. His earliest known painting, Bumper (1745), portrays an athletic-looking bull terrier. Bumper possesses an intelligent eye and a strong jaw more akin to a modern Patterdale. His forelegs are straight and his hindquarters ripple…

NEWS Email your stories / stnews@fieldsportspress.com Shooting Times understands that United Utilities, Britain’s biggest water company and also Britain’s largest corporate landowner, is going to end grouse shooting across its 56,000-hectare holding by way of not renewing any grouse shooting leases when they come to an end. Anti-grouse shooting campaigners, including Luke Steele, the executive director of Wild Moors, said that the news was “amazing” and claimed that it reflects the values of those who “believe wildlife and habitats should be protected and enhanced”. The shooting community and a suite of practical conservationists took a very different stance. Lindsay Waddell, veteran grousekeeper and former chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Association, told ST that it is another sorry chapter “in the drip, drip, drip against the management of the uplands”. Mr…

New SERIES In 2012, cracks appeared in the Morphie Dyke. The barrier, which corralled fish into one of the most prolific salmon fishing pools in the world, had long been out of use. Its wooden and iron struts were decaying and its concrete crumbling. The 2012 cracks were exacerbated by high water in 2013. Two years later, Storm Frank was the final nail in the coffin. The dyke was fully breached, and passage for salmon on the North Esk, one of the most productive salmon rivers in Scotland, was eased. Despite the unobstructed passage for salmon, Morphie remains one of the finest beats to fish, and for the first time in many years is available to day Rods. Previously, a syndicate of timeshares divided the fishing, which very…

Book excerpt Deer are generally quiet animals. Alarmed deer generally choose to depart unobtrusively but may issue a vocal warning to others of a potentially dangerous intruder in their vicinity. An observer who has been detected by an unseen deer may at least be able to identify it by the sound it makes. The males of most deer species make characteristic calls during the rut. Females and young will maintain contact with each other using various bleating or piping calls. Red deer This species is characteristically silent apart from during the rut. During the rut the stag roars, especially around first and last light. The sound resembles the bellow of a bull but with a deeper intonation, and usually ends with several grunts. Woodland stags often give a single resonant…

One of the most difficult things to call when you have birds in a pen is whether they are huddled up because they are cold, because they have had a wet night and are waiting for the sun to warm them up and dry them off, or because there is actually something wrong with them. And while the temptation might be to leave them untreated, assuming that they will pick up when the weather improves, the difference between losing only one or two birds and having the whole pen go down with something always hinges on an early diagnosis and the correct treatment. A swift diagnosis is so important. Our local vets will have a look at any birds we drop off and get back to us with an update…

Remembering the experience that ignited a lifelong passion for stalking I first started deerstalking as a gradual progression from pest control and rabbiting on my uncle’s farm in Kent when I was a lad. I used to help out whenever I could, harvesting, potato picking and ferreting with my uncle Lez. It instilled a true love for the outdoors, wildlife, fieldcraft and hard work. My first deer was a roe doe taken on the farm for venison with my uncle, but my true love for deerstalking — and roe in particular — came from my first roebuck. I had bought a Tikka LSA 55 rifle in .308 Win when I was 17 (which I still use today) and learned how to use it on the farm in all weathers, positions,…

Across 4Gun case seen at the awards event? (12) 8 The hard-hitting effect of a bullet means a little rascal must behave (6) 9 Bad-tempered women are mousy types (6)10 Go under a water feature (4)11 The airborne trooper is on location with a flea, for one (8)13 The gain is in creating a gunmaker’s logo (8)15 Gun part found in the rainwater barrel (4)16 The RC cartridge is cold on account of the spy agency (6)18 Prepares gundogs for the field - these ones are on track (6)19 Simulation is spontaneous on both sides when clay pairs are in unison (12) Down 1Grip a man wandering the mountains of Scotland (8)2 Designated containment of a biting insect (4)3 Incorrectly relist according to airgun charging cylinder capacity (6)5 A sound…

More than a century of hound trailing has been brought to an end on Langholm Moor because its new owners will not continue to grant permission. Devon-based carbon-offsetting company Oxygen Conservation bought Blackburn and Hartsgarth farms in April this year from the Buccleuch Estate, adding nearly 11,500 acres to a growing portfolio across the UK. The company states on its website: “Our commitment [is] to restoring natural processes and ecosystems.” The company’s founder, Rich Stockdale, told The Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser that hound trailing is not consistent with their conservation-based objectives.“Running a group of dogs across the landscape, though I appreciate is important to a small group of people who are passionate about the sport, does untold damage to flora, fauna and fungi,” he said. George McGimpsey, a keen local…

NEWS Email your stories / stnews@fieldsportspress.com It will come as no surprise, given the pinch we’re all feeling, that shooting for the forthcoming season is proving hard to sell. Digby Taylor, of GunsOnPegs, told Shooting Times that they are seeing more discounted days than ever before. And, for the first time, they’ve had prestigious estates such as Floors Castle approaching them to advertise days, whereas in the past it was impossible for ordinary Guns (albeit ordinary Guns with deep pockets) to get a look in at such places. Days there sold year in, year out to return clients. ST has also noticed that Cambrian Birds in Wales, which has some of the big-name shoots such as Dyfi Falls, has just reduced the price it is selling days at, per bird,…

Stalking When the alarm went off at 3:30am, it felt as though my head had just hit the pillow. There was rain falling across the window, there was no light in the sky, and in the hall my spaniel pup was beating her tail against the side of her crate. I guess she’d noted me piling coats, binoculars and boots up the previous evening and reckoned we were going somewhere exciting. She is just starting her sporting life, but even now she knows the signs — the gun cabinet keys, cartridge bags, bottles of beer and the packet of Marlboros that always mean fishing. “A gamekeeper recently asked me why the editor of ST lives in town” By 4am, Jessie and I were on Walworth Road heading towards Elephant and…

AL’S SPORTING TOUR On my last visit to the West London Shooting School, (Al’s sporting tour, 5 July), I also managed to get a chance to have a go at clays with world-class coaching from Mark Heath. It is not often that you step into a clay lesson after spending a few hours on a large-calibre rifle. I met Mark near the gunroom, and we didn’t waste time picking up a gun for the day. As far as shotgun coaching goes, Mark is as good as it gets, and, let’s face it, I need all the help I can get when it comes to clays. There were so many delightful guns to choose from, it was heavenly. I needed to impress Mark, so I went for my personal favourite, the…

It was a gentlemanly clay shoot between two London livery companies, all just a bit of fun. Which meant, of course, that it was seething with a competitiveness that would have embarrassed a Manchester football derby. I’d put in decent scores on the two driven birds stands, including the specks thrown off the high tower, smashing 18ex20, thought, “Well, I’m on reasonable form, should end up with a respectable card,” and then turned the corner and came to stand three: the rabbit. All hope disappeared quicker than a double malt down a gillie’s gullet. I hate clay rabbits, especially when they’re slow and close. They’ve buggered up my scores in the past and will continue to do so as they appear as fast-breeding as their natural counterparts. Course-setters love them…

OUR VERDICT Edgar Brothers is now the proud importer of the new hunting rifles from Seekins Precision in Idaho, USA — and we have the Havak PH2 on test in .308 Win. These are very striking sporting rifles, primarily due to the spiral-cut fluted barrels, three colour stock finishes (mountain shadow, desert shadow and urban shadow) and spiral fluted bolt. You also have a lightweight carbon composite stock, which is hand-bedded for consistent accuracy potential and all backed by a lifetime warranty. It all sounds very good, and on closer inspection the build quality for the £2,770 price seems reasonable. Like a lot of American rifles, they tend to have that semi-tactical stock design conducive to shooting from any position. The calibre options range from the short-actioned models in 6mm…

The largest landholding company in Britain, United Utilities, with 56,000 hectares, folded under pressure and announced last week that grouse moor management will cease on its nine leased moors when those leases end. The company had already banned burning on them, so the management was either cutting heather and legal predator control anyway. The change of tack came after Wild Moors, a green lobby agenda organisation, had, by becoming a shareholder, put itself in a position of influence. They then placed a resolution to the AGM in July 2021, which has been implemented. The leased moors will cease to be shot or managed once the leases expire, which will be on a staggered basis. A note of concern to all grouse moors will be the enthusiasm with which Kerry McCarthy,…

I had pulled a tendon in my left leg. On referring to hunting diaries of the past few years, I find this to be an annual event occurring at the same time each year. It must be because of the hiatus between the beagling and the otterhunting seasons and the consequent lull in violent exercise. The injury actually happened when I was walking the Bagley Rat Hounds in a lane and thought to impress my young whipper-in by breaking into a sharp trot. Her enquiry as to what I was making so much fuss about confirmed my theories about the heartlessness of the young. After a week, the crown of a martyr was becoming irksome to my head and I decided to get on the M6 and drive into the…