Innholdsfortegnelse for December 09, 2015 i Shooting Times & Country

IT IS FANTASTIC to have Laurence Catlow back in ST. As Bill Harriman says (p.32), it is brave of Laurence to write about his depression (p.29). My grandfather revealed he had cancer on television in 1965. His name was Richard Dimbleby and at the time he was the BBC’s pre-eminent broadcaster. It must have been a difficult thing to do, given that in those days talking about cancer was taboo, but it played its part in encouraging people to discuss the condition and seek help earlier. I’m sure the same will be true of Laurence’s honest account. Of course, it seems Laurence was lucky in having an enlightened GP. In some cases of illness, either physical or mental, decisions about gun licensing can be difficult. It is to be hoped…

READ The Labrador Handbook by Pippa Mattinson (Ebury Press, £8.99) is described as “the only Labrador training manual you’ll ever need”. This handy book covers everything from choosing your new dog and caring for them, through to training and playtime. It includes problem-solving tips and healthcare information for dogs, from puppies to older veterans. BID A .45-75 lever-action Winchester rifle made in 1879, and once owned by famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley, is up for grabs at the Holt’s auction in London tomorrow (Thursday, 10 December). Stanley is the man who found the presumed lost missing missionary David Livingstone, and immortalised the question: “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” The rifle is estimated to sell for £10,000-£15,000. SHOOT Tomorrow — 10 December — marks the end of the grouse and ptarmigan shooting…

Suffolk farmer and countryman Pat Gregory passed away last month at the age of 86. An accomplished angler, Pat was involved with several game shoots and in recent years ran a stand-and-walk shoot in and around Chediston. In his younger days, Pat was a keen wildfowler on the Blyth and Alde estuaries, and in the summer he enjoyed sea fishing from his boat and salmon fishing in Scotland on the Dee and Ythan. Pat (left) created a series of fishing lakes on his farm and friends recall that he enjoyed exchanging gossip with local anglers as much as he did catching trout. As a tribute to his love of fieldsports and the countryside, Pat’s coffin was adorned with his tweed cap, a salmon fly and his thumbstick.…

Beaters deserve respect, too I am a beater on various large estates with many years’ experience, and a Gun on walked-up and driven small shoots. Respect for the Guns on “big” days features prominently, as does respect for the pheasants by the way we dress, asBlue Zulusaid (Express respect with how you dress, 11 November). I would like to add another “respect” — for the beaters. None of us who beat do it for the money but we do enjoy being out in the hills, the social aspect and seeing birds being put over the Guns, killed cleanly and retrieved by a good team of pickers-up. What is nice for us is to be wished a reciprocal good morning, thanked or congratulated, or even included at elevenses. When I am…

Five generations of the Boyne family have presided over the Burwarton estates, which are owned by Viscount Boyne, members of his family and several family trusts. The bulk of the estate is in Shropshire, but there are also land holdings in North Yorkshire. In Shropshire, it is divided into the Burwarton estate itself and Peaton estate, which lies about four miles west of Burwarton. The home farm amounts to 2,400 acres, mostly dairy and sheep with arable farming on a contract basis. The remaining 7,200 acres are let agricultural holdings and 1,400 acres of woodland.The size of holdings varies from a few acres to 700 acres. All are mixed farms including at least two of the following enterprises: beef, dairy, sheep and cereals.…

The brown hare, lepus europaeus, has been both loved and feared in the past. Though it was viewed by some as a quarry of the highest order, it was also seen as an animal with supernatural powers in the middle ages, and effigies of them were used in fertility rites. Today it is, in the main, loved by many, though given the manner in which it is able to outwit a good running dog in a fair race, it may still have some of those supernatural powers! It is in the early spring, when the hare indulges in boxing sessions in its pursuit of a mate, that it is most often observed, as the animals are immersed in the chase. Males up to double figures may be seen in a…

You may remember me, or rather you may dimly recall the monthly pieces that I wrote for Shooting Times, about fishing (occasionally) and shooting (mostly) and (in particular) running my own small shoot at High Park in Cumbria. I did this for around 10 years and then, three or four years ago, there was suddenly silence. The reason for this was not what you are thinking — Shooting Times did not sack me. I more or less sacked myself because I realised that I could no longer keep writing. And now, for good or ill, I am back and perhaps it will be best if I use this first piece to explain what caused that long and painful silence. Once that has been dealt with, I can resume burbling on…

Known as the beehive or the holz hausen, the round stack is an outstanding form of woodpile once widely used in Norway, but now almost obsolete. The basic idea is to lay the logs in a large circle. Logs that are short, twisted, or for some other reason difficult to stack go in the centre. The pile is raised horizontally to a height of about 3ft 6in. At each subsequent course logs are laid slightly in toward the centre, with the centre being filled up as you go along to ensure stability. The whole is topped off with a roof of flat logs, laid with the bark upward to keep the rain off. Some put a pole at the centre and mark it to show the height of the pile.…

Nature or nurture? STALKING Q Having mainly stalked fallow in central Scotland for the past 20 years, I have always been disappointed by the quality of the antlers they grow, often in relation to the body size. Do you think that this is purely down to the quality of the genetics or is it something else? A Of all our deer, fallow seem to produce fewer trophies from the wild than the other species, while those from parks, or other captive situations, routinely have trophies of huge proportions. Given the protected and managed existence of park deer, they are not really comparable in terms of the heads they grow to truly wild animals. Additionally, leading the transient lifestyle they prefer, wild fallow can be difficult to manage for antler quality.…

Collecting cartridges is a rapidly growing hobby; a far cry from the days when a few enthusiasts such as myself avidly sought shells by long-forgotten gunmakers and loaders. Sportsmen from the previous generation were generally only too happy to give me a few cartridges if they considered them unsuitable for use due to age and possible deterioration. Not so these days, I’m afraid. Cartridges have recognised collectable values and their owners will either be looking for a few pounds or hanging on to them. A legendary cartridge such as Grand Prix is an ideal brand with which to begin collecting (see panel below). It is part of the history of shooting. There are numerous varieties and gauges and most are found fairly easily. In 1898 and 1900, Eley won the…

ANorfolk estate has been fined more than €263,000 by the Rural Payments Agency after one of its former gamekeepers was found guilty of poisoning 11 birds of prey. Seventy-five per cent of the Single Farm Payment Scheme payments made to the Stody estate, near Holt, in 2014 were taken back after Allen Lambert was sentenced over the deaths of 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk. Mr Lambert pleaded guilty to five other charges, including the possession of pesticides and other items capable of being used to prepare poison baits, but still denies killing the birds, despite their carcases being found stuffed into a bag at his home. Passing sentence at Norwich Magistrates’ Court last month, district judge Peter Veits said that the Stody estate must take responsibility for Mr Lambert’s actions:…

Kennel Club to buy northern estate The Kennel Club is set to buy the remote 7,550-acre Emblehope estate in Northumberland, after having its property budget recently increased to £9million. The moorland, which is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is expected to sell for around £4.5million, and will be used for field, working and bloodhound trials, subject to negotiation with Natural England. High Gun teen is a two-time winner Seventeen-year-old shooter Heather Dunmall has won the overall high ladies Gun for the second year running at The Schools Challenge 2015 Winter Series final. Competing at the Oxford Gun Company shooting grounds in Buckinghamshire, on 21 November, Heather (pictured) shot 176 clays out of 200 to win. She was joined by fellow high Guns of the series Will Weaver,…

What does a typical week involve for you? There is no such thing as a typical week in our line of work. There is a seasonal element with the shows — they really are the best way to meet members and others and to hear their views on a wide range of topics — but, other than this, the work is incredibly varied. The Scottish Government could be criticised for consulting too much, as I seem to spend a lot of time responding to consultations or contributing to discussions on legislative change. We also receive calls on a wide range of topics. What would you say is the greatest issue in shooting and conservation at the moment? Apathy… There I have said it! Too many people sit back and expect…

In the shooting field there is one factor over which neither Guns nor keepers have any control, a factor that can make or mar a day’s sport — the weather. We may cross our fingers, tap barometers or be glued to the forecasts, but we are all at the mercy of wind, rain, frost and sunshine — none more so than in this island buffeted by the mercurial moods of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Today, the countryside is bathed in a crisp wintery glow, there has been a slight hint of frost, the sky is almost cloudless and not a leaf stirs. But 24 hours ago the team of Guns on the shoot where I regularly pick-up was being battered by a fierce freezing gale from the…

Phillip Owen has worked as headkeeper at Lord Boyne’s Burwarton estate for the past eight years. The estate’s woodland canopy is thick, thereby affording some protection from predators such as goshawks, buzzards and owls. Phil reports that the pheasants are not heavily predated. Keeping the birds up on the higher ground during the shooting season on all the drives is paramount to the success of the shoot. Phil feeds by hand and whistles the birds in through the wooded rides twice daily on each drive. Foxes are kept under control by weekly foxing sessions during the summer — Phil prefers to use night optics mounted on the rifle and finds this more productive than traditional lamping.…

Legend: The hare appears in folklore ranging from Africa and the Middle East to England and Ireland. The tale of the hare and the tortoise was handed down by the Greek slave Aesop from the 6th century BC. Place names: The hare can often be observed in favoured localities. An example from Scotland is “Murchland”, from the Scots word “murchen”, meaning a hare. History: An ancient motif ofthree hares with conjoined ears has been traced from Christian churches in Devon back along the Silk Road to China, via western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Literature: The hare is frequently found in stories, most famously in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has named Elizabeth Goudge’s The Little White Horse,which features a hare,…

Laurence Catlow’s disarmingly frank piece about how he beat depression is one of the most courageous pieces of writing that I have ever read (see p.29). I take my hat off to Laurence; he is a braver man than I could ever be. In light of his revelations, the Editor has asked me to set out the law on mental health and firearms licensing. There is no statutory duty to notify the police that you are suffering from depression during the life of a certificate. However, on renewal of your certificate, you must answer the box relating to your mental health history truthfully. If you do not, you commit a criminal offence. There is no stigma attached to depression. It is an illness to which anyone can fall prey. However,…

“Not fair! Not fair!” he hissed. “It isn’t fair, my precious, is it, not fair, is it? To ask us what it’s got in its nassty little pocketses?” I always thought Gollum had a point. The hobbit had broken the rules of riddling; a decent referee would have awarded the slimy creature the match and the hobbit would have ended his career as a snack. But as Gollum foolishly accepted the challenge, his three guesses weren’t bad: hands, knife and string. As boys, we were never without all three in our pockets, though only the first was an offence, earning a growl from the masters for the first infringement and a detention for repeated sinning. But string and knives? Well, what schoolboy could possibly survive without the necessary tools to…

SEX, WHETHER WE like to admit it or not, dominates our lives in many ways, not least when we come to choose our future shooting companion. For more than 30 years I’ve only owned bitches, which you might think indicates a strong preference for females, but really it’s just that, as my first English springer was a bitch, it’s been easier to stay with that gender ever since. Many people find that, for whatever reason, they get on better with bitches than they do with dogs, while for some it’s the other way round. For the most talented dog trainers it seems to make no difference. Just as a good horse can’t be a bad colour, so a good dog can’t be the wrong sex. I attempted to do research…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country BRUCE POTTS Shooting Timesrifle 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, Blue Fin Building,…

Though grey seals breed on both sides of the Atlantic, and range from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Baltic, most of the world’s population breeds around the coasts of the British Isles, ranging from Scilly to Shetland. Seal cows give birth to a single pup, which will be fed by its mother for anything from 16 to 21 days; it’s then abandoned and has to fend for itself. By this time it has already shed the white fur it was born with. The breeding season is curiously protracted; cows in the southernmost colonies in Cornwall will give birth in August and September, but the date gets progressively later with colonies to the north and east. Seals on the east coast of Scotland and the Farne Islands give birth…

Bullying has been in the news, courtesy of the shenanigans in the Conservative Party. As always, it is not so much the original incident as any hint of a cover-up that spawns the worst headlines and puts legs on the story. It always amazes me when bosses seem to imagine that the bad stuff won’t get out because, well, because they say it shouldn’t. As for so-called “investigations” that are overseen by the very same people who are meant to have prevented the bullying in the first place, is anybody fooled? Attempts to kick serious allegations into the long grass usually unravel. It’s just a matter of when. Anyway, back in the real world of hard-working rural people, bullying is a sad fact of life. Yes, despite all the hand-wringing…

Environment minister Elizabeth Truss MP (middle) was presented with a brace of pheasants by celebrity chef Jose Souto (right) at Westminster at the start of Great British Game Week on 24 November. Almost 200 air cadets from across England and Scotland were introduced to sporting shooting at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, across nine training days organised by BASC last month. Cadets tried their hand at clay pigeon shooting, airgunning and archery. In the 18 November issue, we incorrectly referred to a 7.65-calibre Webley & Scott Model 1913 as a “revolver”. This gun, once owned by Winston Churchill, is, of course, a self-loading pistol. Oxford woman Abigail Pine was shocked to discover that someone had cut short the forelock from her Shetland pony, Gemini. The animals are required to have forelocks…

BRACKEN CAPTURED This picture (below) of our four-year-old gundog Bracken was drawn by our 14-year-old daughter, Amber. Linda MacDonald, by email WOODCOCK FLIGHT Like Whaup (Country Diary, 25 November), I am both excited and fascinated by flighting woodcock, and I agree that they can be far more challenging than driven birds. However, a couple of notes of caution: first, beware woodcock “under the moon”, as the Game Acts prohibit woodcock shooting between an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise. On a dull evening, the flight is usually over before this, but on one with a bright, full moon the birds can flight late. Second, I fear that it can be all too easy to overshoot a flightline, so Whaup’s suggestion of restraint has a double importance. The Game…

Late last summer, a birdwatcher in the Clun Forest (which is on the Shropshire-Wales border) took a photograph of a pine marten. It was the first confirmed sighting of a pine marten in England for more than 100 years. The picture delighted some, amazed others and, it has to be said, was greeted by a degree of scepticism by many of the people who lived in and around the Clun Forest. How had a population of cat-sized weasels managed to live undetected in a fairly public area of woodland for so long? Could they have come across from Wales? Or had they been there all along? There are naturally a lot of conspiracy theories and suggestions as to how the Clun Forest pine martens might have got there, including the…

Every spring, a beautiful woodpile sculpture makes its appearance outside a pleasant-looking, white-painted house in the centre of Hamar in Norway. Then every autumn it is pulled down — or it collapses of its own accord. Evanescence is an important element of Ruben Knutsen’s annual garden installation. Ruben is a painter and sculptor. He hails from Arendal, on the coast, but was bitten by the woodpile bug after moving to a new home in central Norway. He wanted to make something special out of the job of piling wood, so every year he wrestles into shape a new version of the classic round pile (see panel, right). Woodpiles — sometimes called holz hausen, or wood houses — such as these were once common in Norway, but the art of constructing…

A question for the historians: how did the Guns, beaters and pickers-up get round shoots before the advent of 4x4s, Gun buses, tractors and trailers and quad bikes? I imagine that there was a great deal more walking then than there is today. On the estate where I live, a Suffolk horse was used to pull the gamecart, but as far as I’m aware everyone else walked. I’m sure shoots must have concentrated on much smaller areas than they do today. One thing is certain: in those distant days the shooting field must have been a far safer working environment for dogs. I’ve no idea how many dogs get run over during the shooting season, but I would guess it’s quite a few. Many get knocked down when running across…

Most of us are familiar with the idea that cuckoos usurp other bird species to take over their nests and lay their own eggs there, but did you know some species of bees do the same thing? These are known as cleptoparasites — or “cuckoo bees” — which take over the nest (or nest cell) of a foraging bee for their own use. According to Steven Falk’s Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, 73 species of British bees (out of more than 270 different species) exploit the nests of other bees. Some cuckoo bees will simply detect an empty nest and use it as a place in which to lay their eggs; others will use cells that have already been sealed by pricking the cap on…