Partridge shooting terms explained: the language of the partridge day

Photographs: Sarah Farnsworth, unless otherwise credited

Partridge shooting has a vocabulary of its own, and a good deal of it is shared with nobody else. Some of the terms are ancient, some are borrowed from grouse and pheasant shooting and mean something slightly different here, and a few are Spanish. If you are heading out for your first day of the season, or standing in a line where everyone else seems to know what a flanker is doing, this is what it all means.

The birds: grey, redleg, covey and brace

Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) – The native British partridge, once the mainstay of driven shooting in England and now red-listed as a Bird of Conservation Concern. Small, round and greyish, with a chestnut horseshoe on the breast of the cock bird. Also called the English partridge, or simply the grey.

English partridge – Another name for the grey partridge, still widely used by keepers and older Guns. Nothing to do with where the bird was reared.

Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) – Introduced to England from continental Europe in the eighteenth century and now the bird behind almost all British partridge shooting. Larger and more boldly marked than the grey, with a white throat, black gorget and barred flanks.

Redleg – The everyday shorthand for the red-legged partridge.

Frenchman – An older nickname for the red-legged partridge, reflecting where the early stock came from. You will still hear it in East Anglia.

Barbary partridge – A species indigenous to North Africa, larger than a redleg and strong on the wing. The quarry on Moroccan driven days.

Covey – A family group of partridge, and the fundamental unit of the sport. Partridge arrive over the line in coveys rather than singly, which is what makes them so difficult: the temptation is to fire at the group rather than pick one bird.

Brood – A hen bird and her chicks. Grey partridge lay the largest clutches of any British ground-nesting bird, and 15 eggs is common.

Poult – A young reared bird, sold on to shoots by game farms at a set age. Partridge poults released early spend longer living wild before the season opens, which most keepers regard as producing better birds.

Brace – A pair of birds. Bags are counted in head but birds are given away in braces, and you should expect to be offered one at the end of a day.

The season and the law: open and close seasons

Close season – The period when it is an offence to kill or take partridge. It runs from 1 February to 1 September in England and Wales, 2 February to 31 August in Scotland, and 1 February to 31 August in Northern Ireland.

Open season – The reverse of the above. Partridge shooting opens on 1 September everywhere in the United Kingdom and closes on 1 February, except in Northern Ireland, where it ends on 31 January.

The drive: from sewelling to the horn

Drive – One episode of shooting, in which beaters move a defined piece of ground towards a line of standing Guns. A partridge day typically runs to four to six drives.

Return drive – A drive that pushes birds back across the ground they were driven from earlier in the day, usually in the opposite direction. Common on partridge shoots because it keeps birds in the middle of the beat rather than sending them off the boundary.

Flushing point – The place where the beating line intends birds to lift, positioned so that they cross the Guns at the height and angle the keeper wants.

Sewelling – Lengths of cord strung with fluttering strips of plastic or fabric, hung across a line to stop birds running through it and persuade them to fly. One of the keeper’s most useful tools on flat partridge ground.

Blanking in – Walking a piece of ground quietly before a drive in order to move birds off it and into the cover that will be driven, without flushing them.

Dogging back – Working dogs along boundaries to push birds back onto the shoot before they stray onto neighbouring ground. Constant work on a partridge shoot, because redlegs walk.

Hedge drive – The classic partridge presentation: birds driven over a tall, thick hedgerow with the Guns waiting on the far side. Greys starburst over a hedge in every direction; redlegs tend to follow the same line as the bird in front.

Cover crop – A block or strip planted specifically to hold gamebirds and provide feed and shelter. Partridge mixes typically include triticale, spring wheat, linseed, millet and kale, and hold a great deal else besides partridge.

Gamecover – Another word for the same thing.

Going back – Shooting at a bird after it has passed the line. Legitimate on partridge only if you can see sky beneath the bird, which early-season birds lose very quickly.

Arc of fire – The sector within which a Gun may safely shoot, set out at the morning briefing. Tighter on partridge than on almost any other driven game, because the birds are low and the beating line is often in view.

Right and left – Two birds killed with two shots without lowering the gun. On a mixed drive, a right and left at a partridge and a pheasant requires an instant change of lead and is very satisfying indeed.

Wipe your eye – To kill a bird that another Gun has shot at and missed. Traditionally accompanied by a certain amount of comment.

Horn – The signal that ends a drive. When it sounds, guns go into slips immediately, whatever is still in the air.

The people: Guns, flankers, stops and pickers-up

Gun – A person shooting, as distinct from the firearm. Capitalised in this sense, which is why you will see a line described as eight Guns.

Headkeeper – The person responsible for producing the birds and running the shoot day. The single most important individual on the ground, and the one you tip.

Beater – One of the team who move through cover to drive birds towards the line.

Flanker – A beater positioned out to the side of the drive, usually with a flag, whose job is to turn birds back over the Guns rather than let them slip out round the end of the line.

Stop – Someone posted quietly at a fixed point to prevent birds running or breaking out of the ground being driven.

Picker-up – A handler with dogs positioned behind the line to gather shot birds, particularly runners. Partridge in standing cover crop can be very hard to find, and good pickers-up earn their keep.

Loader – On a double-gun day, the person who loads the second gun and hands it over. Also an extra pair of eyes on safety.

Secretario – The Spanish equivalent, who loads, guides and advises. Tipping conventions differ from the British ones, so ask your agent.

Shoot captain – The person running the day for the Guns, who delivers the briefing, calls the draw and keeps things moving.

Keepering and conservation: counts, the Euston system and beetle banks

Pair count – A count of breeding pairs of wild grey partridge carried out in spring, usually with binoculars from a vehicle. The first indication of how the season is likely to look.

Autumn count – A post-harvest count of adults and young, done at dusk and increasingly with thermal imaging. On wild grey ground it determines how much shooting, if any, takes place.

Partridge Count Scheme – The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust survey that has monitored grey partridge numbers through volunteer counts since 1933, and one of the longest-running bird surveys in Europe.

Euston system – A historic method of lifting wild partridge eggs, incubating them under a broody hen and returning the hatched chicks to the nest, used to improve productivity. Named after the Suffolk estate where it was developed.

Fostering – Placing bantam-reared, genetically wild partridge chicks with barren or failed pairs in the wild. Still debated, and generally used to bolster a population or refresh the gene pool rather than to create a shootable surplus.

Beetle bank – A raised, tussocky grass strip running through a large arable field, providing nesting cover and overwintering habitat for insects and ground-nesting birds.

Conservation headland – The outer few metres of a cereal crop, managed with reduced pesticide input so that the broad-leaved weeds and the insects that depend on them survive. Critical to partridge chick survival in the first weeks of life.

Hungry gap – The late-winter and early-spring period when natural food has run out and birds are in poorest condition. Hopper feeding and overwintered stubbles carry birds through it.

Release pen – The enclosure in which reared poults are held before being allowed out to live wild. Partridge are typically released considerably earlier than pheasant.

Kit and the day: slips, chokes, bags and overage

Slip – A padded sleeve for carrying a gun between drives. Guns go into slips the moment the horn sounds.

Gunbus – The trailer or vehicle that moves the Guns between drives. Its quality is a reliable indicator of how the rest of the day will go.

Elevenses – The mid-morning stop, taken between drives. Sloe gin, soup, sausage rolls and, on the best days, partridge leg dippers.

Choke – The constriction at the muzzle that controls how tightly the shot pattern spreads. Quarter and half suits most partridge; half and three-quarters is worth having on genuinely high birds. Open your chokes when shooting steel.

Shot size – The diameter of the individual pellets, expressed as a number that gets larger as the pellet gets smaller. No 6 and No 7 are the usual partridge choices in lead.

Fibre wad – A biodegradable wad, as opposed to a plastic one. Required by many shoots and by most conservation-minded hosts.

Non-lead – Steel, bismuth, tungsten or other alternatives to lead shot. The placing on the market and use of lead shot will not be permitted from 1 April 2029 in England, Scotland and Wales, so most shoots are already in transition.

Bag – The total number of birds shot, counted in head. A partridge day is sold against an agreed bag with a tolerance either side.

Overage – Birds shot above the agreed bag, charged for at the end of the day. Very easy to run up on partridge, because coveys tempt Guns into shots they would not otherwise take.