Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i The Field

BITTERNS AND NIGHTJARS The latest update of the red list for birds shows that the bittern and nightjar have move from red to amber status. WORKING DOGS The Scottish government has launched a consultation on tail-docking exemption for workers. GOLDEN EAGLES A new survey by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association found golden eagles nesting on 58 different sites where grouse-shooting takes place. SYRIAN REFUGEES Hunts and shoots in the UK donated more than 5,000 winter coats to Country Coats2Syria to help keep young refugees warm. WATER VOLES Water voles are making a comeback on two Welsh rivers after 50 mink were culled.…

ANOTHER COUNTRY “For one horrible moment, I thought you’d have to hire a second jet.” RELAXING PT I’m not altogether sure that either Robin Ashcroft or Donald McFaul is correct in his interpretation of Egyptian PT (Letters, February issue). It is neither “Helicopter spotting” nor energetic (with or without a companion). Egyptian PT describes more a sense of calmness, an ability to relax under any circumstance and a predilection towards gentle slumber at any time of the day. As someone who was born in Cairo, I feel that I can speak with some authority. Henry Buckmaster Little Blakenham, Suffolk BOYS TO THE FORE Hooray for Emma Gillett and her letter “Bring on the Boys” (February issue). I second her opinion that maybe some us would prefer the bearers of…

“No platoon of carefully marshalled beaters can drive the pigeon towards you” SHOOTING brings many memorable moments: the dark cloud of late grouse storming over wizened heather; a woodcock jinking through a hazel spinney; a sole pheasant on set wings dropping from a hanger wood. All deserve the flourish of red ink. But after the season’s end, another highlight can compare with the cream of game-shooting. I have in mind a single pigeon flighting over some spring-drilled wheat last March. He was scorching along about 40yd up, carried by a brisk south-westerly, when he saw my pattern of decoys but failed to spot me snuggled behind the stump of an oak, a casualty of winter gales. The bird swung round, trimmed his wings and dropped into the wind and into…

TO be included in The Field’s Top 50 Shots list is to occupy a revered position in the shooting world. When you look at the names of those on it, the likes of Jeremy Herrmann, Philip Fussell, Will Garfit, Jamie Lee and many others, you may naturally assume that their prowess in the field has been honed by constantly shooting high pheasants, Wiltshire partridges or Northumberland grouse, and that they have achieved their status purely off the back of these feats. However, I beg to differ; I suggest that their prowess with a gun began at an early age, sat in a hedge or a wood, staring intently downwind for the finest gamebird of them all – the woodpigeon. Columba palumbus frequents northern Europe in varying numbers and is regarded…

PIGEON has featured proudly on menus across the millennia but as towns and cities sprawl ever outward, public perception of the grey grouse has shifted away from the bucolic, plump-breasted cooer and towards the municipal harridan – skinny, scabby, singularly unappetising and not a pigeon at all but an urbanised rock dove. Demand has, not surprisingly, fallen. Any countryman will tell you that this is a terrible state of affairs. Gently rich and gamey, darkly pink and perfectly portioned, woodpigeon is one of the greats. Cheap, plentiful, lean and staggeringly easy to cook, it lends itself to all manner of styles and accompaniments. Breast and skin them – keep the carcases for stock, allow a pigeon per head and make the most of this glorious year-round British gamebird. DEVILLED PIGEON…

JUST taking a soil sample... dropped my whip… thought I saw a Roman coin.” No, none of the excuses will wash and there are now hawk eyes watching you from every copse and verge. I have (metaphorically) fallen foul of a “Tumblers’ Club” for losing my stirrups when my steed tripped in a rabbit hole. J’accuse is enough; never mind Zola, it’s like the French Revolution out there. Today, out hunting, Big Brother is watching you – but in a good cause. We should not be surprised by the genesis and proliferation of tumblers’ clubs; hunting folk have ever taken falls in good heart. They have to – everyone has them, it’s just a part of the game – and combining as they often do the comedy classics of pratfall…

MY red-letter days are often more to do with the company than anything amazing I might or might not have done but a day that stands out is the one on which my elder son Harry caught his first wild brown trout on the River Alness by his own cast. We were fishing with my parents on Novar’s Beat 1 at the top of the river below Loch Morie. The Alness has to be one of the UK’s prettiest rivers, each bend offering a different view. Beat 1 has the feel of highland river with the banks retaining a narrow channel full of character. Perfect for Harry to cast his line across. Harry, my then three year old and I nipped down to the river before lunch to have a…

“The Carlisle United groundsman found three koi carp once the water had subsided” PERHAPS some of you travelling northwards at the end of 2015 past junction 43 of the M6 heard the steady metallic “tink tink tink” of hammers striking nails, mistaking our Cumbrian ark-building for something amiss with your big ends. So spare a thought for Carlisle and Cumbria as we try to rebuild our infrastructure that has now been shattered twice within 10 years. And spare another thought for the Carlisle United groundsman. After the 2005 floods he recovered a goldfish swimming on the penalty spot. This time he found three koi carp once the water had subsided below the crossbar. No doubt the Prime Minister’s recently ennobled spin doctor Sir Lynton Crosby would contend this shows Carlisle’s…

WILD TROUT TRUST From trout fishing on classic English chalkstreams to a trip to Iceland for huge brown trout there are plenty of piscatorial pleasures in the 2016 Wild Trout Trust Auction. The record 288 lots include salmon fishing on the Tyne and there’s fishing for barbel, pike, bass, bonefish and golden dorado as well. There are framed flies tied by Paul Procter and Hans Van Klinken and a metal relief panel of a trout by Sam MacDonald. Prices start at £20 for fishing on the Bela in Cumbria and rise to £3,750 for bonefishing in the Bahamas. The auction takes place from 4 to 13 March; for a catalogue call 02392 570985 or visit www.wildtrout.org. SHIRE SHOW The Shire Horse Society has added an extra day to its National…

NIBBLE & PECK HOTEL CHOCOLAT Individually wrapped bunnies and chicks. Easter essential. Price £8 Tel 03444 932323 www .hotelchocolat.com HEN BETTYS Hollow hen decorated with red cocoa butter and marzipan. Price £13 Tel 01423 814008 www .bettysandtaylors.co.uk LAMB MELCHIOR CHOCOLATES Made by a Swiss chocolatier based in Devon. Delightful. Price £7 Tel 01769 574442 www .melchiorchocolates.co.uk BUNNIES MARC DE MARQUETTE Hand-painted hoppers. Price £12 each Tel 0800 123 400 www .selfridges.com ORGANIC TRUFFLES PRESTAT A QEST special edition, with mystical animals. Price £17 Tel 020 8961 8555 www .prestat.co.uk CHICK VAN ROY An Easter classic. Price £6 Tel 0800 123 400 www .selfridges.com…

CRIKEY, gosh, knock me sideways with a ping pong bat, Boris Johnson will shortly no longer be Mayor of London, the place he calls “the greatest city on earth”. You suspect it will be a less jolly, more follicularly manicured place, whether it is the Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith or Labour’s Sadiq Khan who replaces Johnson at City Hall in May, with the battle already classed as billionaire’s son against bus driver’s son. Upmarket London developers are weeping into their pints of Profit, for they, for the most part, love Boris. There is an acute housing shortage in the capital and prices remain plain bonkers, but there is a suspicion that should Goldsmith get the mayoral gig, he’ll insist all houses are powered by recycled wasabi peas, while Khan will…

“‘Why the hell do you have to drive such a big car? It’s your own fault you can’t get out’” AFTER Bonhams auctioned off the two-millionth Land Rover Defender, Darwin and I decided to go on a factory tour to see the last Defenders trundling off the production line in the Midlands. There are few people who don’t look fondly on this utterly British machine, turning a blind eye to its idiosyncrasies and flaws. As we toured the factory we were struck by the contrast between the robots and lasers building the other vehicles in the Land Rover line-up and the Defender being put together by hand, with lots of bashing, gluing and lifting, mostly in a low-roofed building dating from the Second World War. This really drove home why…

THE GENERA INSECTORUM OF LINNAEUS by James Barbut Published 1781 THE Genera Insectorum of Linnaeus was Barbut’s first book and remains his most famous. He describes the major scientific insect groups and accompanies his highly entertaining and elegantly written accounts of the specimens with illustrations. This plate shows a variety of wasps, bees and ants, and demonstrates the insects’ warning colours (aposematism). Animals use these to signal to their predators to stay away. Edited extract from Rare Treasures from the Library of the Natural History Museum, published by Natural History Museum, £30.…

ASK an estate agent what is the most important thing to look for in a property and he or she will say,“location, location, location”. For an auctioneer or antiques dealer it is “provenance, provenance, provenance” that will turn the mundane into the valuable, or the already valuable into the eye-wateringly expensive. Let me tell you a tale of three naval flags. On 3 November Charles Miller sold a Russian naval ensign captured in the Crimean War, with a sewn-in, handwritten panel which read, ‘This Russian Ensign and Ansg Pendant [sic], was taken from one of their Boats at Sebastopol, by Mr. W.H. Cruys. C.B.M of H.M.S. “Albion” on the 9th (altered by hand to the 10th) Sept 1855.” As impeccable a provenance as you are likely to find. It measured…

EVERY now and then I come across a wine that not so much stops me in my tracks in amazement as makes me pause and think, “This is jolly nice, what is it and why on earth don’t I drink it more often?” Last week at supper, alongside a fine, shirt-popping beef stew, friends opened some extremely quaffable beaujolais. It was spot on. Served cellar cool, it was ripe, juicy and fruity, easy-going and refreshing. It’s a while since I’d had any bojolly – not that I don’t like it, I do, it’s just never very high on my list for some reason – and this was a belter, a 2014 Domaine de Fa, Beaujolais en Besset. It had in spades what we learned, well-versed and highbrow experts term drinkability.…

AN invitation to stalk brings with it the worry of what kit to carry and how best to accommodate it. Thirty years ago it was considered poor form to carry anything that did not fit into a pocket or wrap around your waist. Nowadays most guests equip themselves with a small day sack or shoulder bag carrying the bare essentials of lunch, waterproofs, spare jumper and camera. For the actual stalker, however, the kit list is longer, and for the fallow, sika or red stalker even longer. While a culled roe or muntjac can be suspended from a convenient tree for the gralloch, a winch of some type is required for the larger species; a suspended gralloch ensures a cleaner job both for stalker and carcase alike. The bag carried…

HERITAGE AWARDS There are 39 historic property finalists in the 2016 Hudson’s Heritage Awards. Lowther Castle (above) and Alnwick Garden are both up for two awards, including the one for best loos. The winners will be announced on 1 March. THELWELL EXHIBITION Previously unseen works by Norman Thelwell are on show at the National Trust’s Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire until 10 April. Thelwell: Ponies and Places features 70 of the artist’s works, including landscapes. COTTAGE APPEAL The Landmark Trust has launched an appeal to raise £400,000 to restore a cottage built in 1863 for the Ffestiniog railway superintendent. The Grade II-listed Coed y Bleiddiau is accessible by train only. To contact the Opening Shots News Desk send an email to caroline.bankes@timeinc.com…

A Hampshire syndicate ran the first driven-pheasant day for injured servicemen this season. The guns on the Hinton Daubnay shoot, run by Steve Penfold, acted as mentors for 10 injured veterans from across the country. The guns and cartridges for the day were provided by the shoot. The wet weather cleared to provide some testing shooting. Afterwards guns, mentors and beaters sat down to a shoot supper in the Pit, the shoot’s Tardislike, purpose-built shoot HQ. “This is the first private syndicate to sacrifice a day for the Shooting for Heroes programme,” said H4H’s Michael Payne. The programme, run from Tedworth House in Wiltshire and at Catterick in Yorkshire, was started two years ago to give wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women an introduction to game-shooting. “We’ve seen a…

3 GWCT RACEDAY Taunton Racecourse, Somerset (first race 2.05pm). Advance tickets, £48 (meeting and GWCT reception) from nickevelyn@sky.com. Meeting only, £12. 5 DUKE OF BEAUFORT’S POINT-TO-POINT Didmarton, nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire, tel 07974 396766. 5-23 14 WILDLIFE AND SPORTING ARTISTS Jerram Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset; www.jerramgallery.com. 6-26 RURAL HERITAGE OF MID WALES Works by Seren Bell, Fosse Gallery, The Manor House, The Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos, tel 01451 831319. 9-15 BADA ANTIQUES FAIR Duke of York Square, London SW3, tel 020 7589 6108; www.badafair.com. 10 SOUTHAMS SALE OF MODERN SPORTING GUNS AND ANTIQUE ARMS Bedford Auction Centre, 26 Newnham Street, Bedford, tel 01832 273565. 11 GRAND MILITARY GOLD CUP Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey. Call 0844 5793012 for tickets. 13 HAMPSHIRE HUNT POINT-TO-POINT Hackwood Park, near Basingstoke, Hampshire, tel 07977 920705. 15-18 CHELTENHAM…

A CLUTCH of shooting teams gathered on 5 and 6 December for the annual British Universities and Colleges Sport Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships. Twenty-one institutions from Exeter to Newcastle came together for the 14th annual running of the contest, held this year at the West Midlands Shooting Ground near Telford, Shropshire, a favourite of many of the teams. Between stands, competitors shared their plans to return for a spot of practice before next year’s event and to compare notes on their prowess. Extreme wind on the Saturday and rain on the Sunday made for tricky shooting conditions but didn’t dampen the teams’ spirit. The camaraderie was evident all weekend, not least in the bars, and competitors shared their enjoyment on Twitter via the hashtag #CrayforClay. The contest proved to be…

“For years the Kennel Club has been anxious to include the Jack Russell in its empire” APEDIGREE Jack Russell? You cannot be serious! That’s the reaction of most Jack Russell terrier owners I have spoken to about the Kennel Club’s recent recognition of this most feisty and diverse of dog breeds, founded by the Rev’d John (Jack) Russell, vicar of Swimbridge in North Devon. Known as the sporting parson because of his love of the chase, Russell’s sermons were reputedly short by Victorian standards, as his hunter was usually saddled and waiting in the churchyard. Starting with his foundation bitch, Trump, he succeeded in establishing a tenacious and feisty strain of terrier that could not only run with the hounds but pursue foxes underground with great success. Russell bought Trump…

The Field cannot accept legal responsibility for answers given in these columns. LEMON ESSENCE Q I have come across a few recipes recently that require lemon essence. Would you know if and how I could make it myself as the over-the-counter essence is too strong for my liking? MH, Wiltshire A Choose lemons that are in good condition and allow one lemon per three lumps of cubed sugar. Rub the three lumps of sugar over the lemon removing all the yellow rind but making sure that none of the white pith is included as it can be very bitter. When finished, crush the sugar finely and store in a small glass jar. Place a piece of paper or kitchen towel round the lid of the jar to exclude any air…

IN January 1875 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, began to make preparations for the first visit of an heir to the British throne to India – over the Christmas period of 1875/76. Officials from both the Indian government and the Treasury began to cost out the need for gifts to be presented by the Prince to the many Indian princes, chiefs and nobles whom he would be scheduled to meet. Despite the efforts of the Indian government to restrict the exchange of presents, it was clear that the princes intended to honour their tradition of giving presents and Edward would be obliged to honour this custom. He would need gifts to match, if not in value, at least in their uniqueness. A sum of £212,000 was found…

2014 FLEURIE, CLOS DE LA ROILETTE (£12, Goedhuis & Co) Silky-smooth with plenty of dark and bitter cherry flavours. 2014 REGNIE, DOMAINE ROCHETTE (£13, Lea & Sandeman) Violet-scented and deliciously concentrated. 2014 BEAUJOLAIS-VILLAGES, LOUIS JADOT (£10, Waitrose) Easy-going, well-priced and eminently approachable. 2012 MOULIN A VENT, HENRY FESSY (£14, Wine Direct) Succulent, spicy and wonderfully food-friendly. 2012 MORGON, CHRISTOPHE SAVOYE (£16, Private Cellar) A beauty this: rich, dark and spicy. 2014 BROUILLY, ALAIN MICHAUD (£15, Berry Bros & Rudd) Fresh, vibrant and richly flavoured.…

RUGBY TACKLED: A MOTHERS’ TRANSLATION by Rebecca Chatterton with Annabel Buik and Tara Shippey www.theallaboutcompany.co.uk £9 CHATTERTON and co have produced an entertaining and insightful little book for the sideline supporters. Over well-presented chapters with charming illustrations by Kate Spurway the game is explained. Supposing you had never seen an oval ball, you would be deft at handling the terminology and technicalities once read. The book is divided into chapters on the basics: the pitch; team; playing; the referee; and the technical stuff. The glossary is useful for the uninitiated. Even for those who are not novice rugby-watchers, the rules of the game can seem arcane when bellowed by the burly in the pub or from the sofa. It is, after all, the start of the Six Nations. If…