At this time of year I travel to Hampshire for a spot of trout fishing, which invariably involves afternoon naps by the water. You might think sleeping is a criminal waste of good fishing time, but I beg to differ. (Read just how much of the day does a dog…
Features
Wading birds under increasing pressure from predators
I have always had an affinity with the wading birds that kept me company during the summer when I was working on the moor. I now oversee one of two sites owned by the Philip Wayre Upland Trust. The Trust land has more or less every species you will find…
In Search Of One Last Song
My study is filled with books on hunting and shooting, beasts and butterflies, flowers and fungi, but mainly books on birds. I’ve never counted, but there are hundreds of them, ranging from David Bannerman’s masterly 12-volume work, The Birds of the British Isles, to my most recent acquisition, Gary Kramer’s…
Behind the scenes at BSA
Birmingham Small Arms was established in 1861. In Great Britain. That’s an important point, because due to its close ties with its Barcelona-based sister company, Gamo, you could be forgiven for thinking BSA is as much Spanish as it is British, but in fact that’s simply not true. All BSA’s…
Royal Warrants: a cartridge fit for The Queen
We were 12 miles north of Moy when the engine went bang. At first, the power started to go, then a gritty groan came from deep within the Jimny’s oily guts. I’m not mechanically minded, but it was clear we wouldn’t be going any further. Up until that point, it…
Why shooting should use the biodiversity net gain rules
The role I play in the countryside is a relatively diverse one. I am a land agent, a farmer’s son and I run a shoot. I am a conservationist, a tree planter, a fisherman and a deerstalker. I am a runner, finding great contentment padding along miles and miles of…
A pair of Prince Albert’s guns are up for auction
Before Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha arrived in Britain it would have been rare to see an Englishman shooting driven game. Prince Albert is widely credited with popularising driven pheasant, partridge and grouse in the UK, shooting his pair of 14-bore percussion muzzle-loaders while enjoying what was, at the…
Rabbits for the table – what’s the law on selling wild food?
A lamping expedition for rabbits in East Kent proved fruitful for Charlotte Lycett Green, who discovered a local demand for quality game produce
Observe and report but don’t get involved in rural law enforcement
What do you do if you are on your own in the countryside and you come across somebody behaving suspiciously? Those of us who have been permitted to own firearms are at a potential disadvantage in any confrontation. Our certificates could be at risk, even if we are the innocent…
Why local markets are essential to venison sales
If you’re looking for fresh food that’s steeped in local flavour, food that comes directly from the countryside around you, pay a visit to your nearest farmers’ market. Take, for instance, our local monthly market a couple of miles away in the small Suffolk town of Halesworth. It’s a place…
A river with royal approval
The connection between the British royal family and fieldsports is long and illustrious and, happily, permeates down to this year of our monarch’s Platinum Jubilee. The royal estate at Sandringham has borne witness to many great sporting days, as has Balmoral in Aberdeenshire. Extending to 55,000 acres, and with grouse…
Historic Royal Shots: the finest to ever wear a crown
Best Royal Shots Royalty has been at the forefront of game shooting activities in Great Britain since the mid 19th century when the Prince of Wales — later King Edward VII — promoted shooting as a socially acceptable alternative form of sport to foxhunting among the aristocracy and the landed…
Britain’s lost shoots: Hewell Estate
Those walking through the leafy streets of Barnt Green, one of the most prestigious residential areas in the West Midlands, probably have no idea that about a century ago the land over which they are travelling formed a part of the 6,000-acre Hewell Estate. Stretching from Redditch in the south…
Muntjac – everything you need to know
Among the world’s most ancient groups of deer species, muntjac walked the earth during the Miocene epoch along with mastodons and smilodons — sabre-tooth tigers — in essentially the same form as we know them today. Although they were present in Europe 15 million years ago, in more recent times…
Hard times for gamekeepers: how things have changed in 100 years
I had a very dear aunt who made it to — and past — her century of birthdays. Her recollections often made me think about the changes she had seen in her long life. She was born before World War I into a life of few houses with flushing toilets…
Why all shooters should try fishing
In these days of thermal imaging and night sights, pigeon magnets and whirligigs, and when you can book a day’s shooting and confidently expect a bag of several hundreds of pheasants or partridges, it is probably more important than ever that those who shoot also go fishing. Not, I would…
Pochard – a diving duck that’s in decline
Similar in size to the wigeon, it is difficult to mistake the male pochard for any other duck, with his bright chestnut head, black breast, white flanks and delicately barred grey back. The female is more of a dark and rather drab grey-brown, but has a distinctive buff marking around…
How we ensure shooting’s future
Nearly half a million people arrived by train, car and coach. Fishermen, falconers, ferreters, wildfowlers, game Shots, gillies and, of course, people who hunted turned out in 2002 to oppose a ban on hunting with hounds. How had this oldest of sports become indefensible to the masses? The answer is…
Lead-free pellets – how will the lead ban impact airgunning?
There has been talk for some time about the phasing out of lead in ammunition and going lead-free, but this is part of a drive to reduce lead pollution in general. A press release issued by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs back in March 2021 laid out…
Britain’s best ever Shots: Reginald Rimington-Wilson
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…