Innehållsförteckning för March 2015 från The Field

WHEN I came to Cornwall 55 years ago grey squirrels had not crossed the Tamar. Now, Cornwall has been colonised by this American import (the last red was recorded in 1984) and there are around five million in the UK. Considering they were introduced by Victorian landowners in 1876, the speed of colonisation has been astounding. Alas, so too has been the effect on our native red squirrels, as well as on woodland, gardens and other wildlife. Prior to the introduction of the grey, red squirrels inhabited most of Britain. Now, they can be found clinging on in small pockets of England and Wales, on islands that grey squirrels have been unable to reach, and in Scotland and the far north of England. Today, it is estimated that there are…

LIGHTWEIGHT DURHAM GENTS JACKET, ALAN PAINE Waterproof with action back and sleeves shaped to aid movement. Price £200 Tel 01623 522570 www.alanpaine.co.uk FEDORA PENMAYNE Fur, felt and feathers for the Cheltenham Festival. A banker. Price £299 Tel 020 3397 9772 www.penmayne.com BURGHLEY SQUARE DOG BED LORDS & LABRADORS Leather and hunter tweed chesterfield for princely pooches. Price from £456 Tel 07866 374583 www.lordsandlabradors.co.uk LAMPSHADES CREAM CORNWALL Pen-and-ink illustration printed on natural linen. Duck and cover. Price from £48 Tel 01326 617177 www.creamcornwall.co.uk SAREK HEAVY FLANNEL SHIRT FJÄLLRÄVEN Keep snug on the farm, Nordic style. Outdoor essential in five colours. Price £90 Tel 023 9252 8711 www.fjallraven.co.uk SAINT-HUBERT LE CHAMEAU Gallic classic now in Chameau green. Price £260 Tel 00 33 1 45 72 44 87 www .lechameau.com CLASSIC LOAFER BILLY…

WHILE a General Election is probably quite a useful party to throw every so often in a democracy, it plays havoc with everything else. The year is still young but already many estate agents are talking of market “uncertainty” at best and “turmoil” at worst ahead of polling day. Who our political masters are come May and what dastardly plans they have for us can clearly impact on jobs, prosperity and property prices; waiting for the smoke signals from Westminster makes Waiting for Godot seem like a fast-moving affair. Is the General Election an excuse or an opportunity? Any agent with a client moaning because his house is not shifting will say it has nothing to do with the price or service; people are sitting tight until they know if…

SHOOTING and the gamekeeping that goes with it is great for biodiversity, isn’t it? Well, after more than 30 years of advising shoots on better game management, I’d have lost my motivation were it not for the wildlife benefits that I believe have accrued and continue to do so. But, and it’s a big but, I am also convinced that most shoots could be doing it better. Basic driven pheasants from well-sited maize cover crops may well offer testing and exciting shooting but the scope for other wildlife benefit is limited without a bit of extra commitment. Thirty-odd years ago, there was pretty much a “them and us” situation. The antis wanted shooting banned, along with hunting, because of their moral objection to killing wildlife. Meanwhile, the conservation world was…

HAND knotted and crafted with care using the best-quality wool and redolent of exotic destinations, a rug can make a room. I must admit to something of a carpet fetish; I find them hard to resist. From the carpet bought at the medina in Fez that had to be shipped home to the oversized auction buy still waiting for the room to fit it, rugs have featured large in my purchasing preferences. Searching for the perfect rug is a pleasure. Veedon Fleece set up workshops in Nepal more than 20 years ago, where it has its own looms. “The idea was to produce the best that can be made without the use of child labour,” says its founder Adam Gilchrist. “This means that we have direct control over what happens…

WITH the start of spring comes the promise of new ingredients. You will be particularly aware of how exciting this is if you are lucky enough to have a kitchen garden. One of my clients, an avid Cheltenham attendee, has a super walled garden and an impressive variety of crops. Just before departing for a day at the races, she brought into the kitchen a wicker basket piled high with purple sprouting broccoli and perfect sticks of pretty rhubarb. Unfortunately, in her hasty harvesting she managed to get seriously stung by nettles. Keen to take revenge on my client’s behalf, I went out and carefully snipped the heads off a clump of nettles. Having given them a good wash I decided they would be added to the list of ingredients…

I FEEL that it is almost a breach of faith to recommend anything other than German optics and it was with some trepidation that I borrowed a pair of Bushnells from Edgar Brothers. Honestly, I would love a pair of Leica, Zeiss or Swarovski range-finding binoculars but at £2,700, £1,899 and £2,470 respectively they are too expensive for me and will be so, I am sure, for many others. However, range-finding binoculars remain one of the most useful bits of kit you can have as a stalker because, among other equally important things, correct identification of range is vital to accurate shooting. At just £1,223, Bushnell’s Fusion model therefore looks interesting but just how much will one have to compromise in terms of quality? On first impression the Bushnells are…

IT is a truth universally acknowledged that when a man reaches a certain age he goes out and buys a Porsche or, perhaps, a Harley-Davidson. Not so Simon Gudgeon. His impulse purchase was some high-oil-content Chavant modelling clay. A decade or so later, the result is Sculpture by the Lakes, 20 lovely Dorset acres enhanced and defined by Gudgeon’s beautiful and thought-provoking sculptures. The beginning of Gudgeon’s career was the antithesis of artistic. “I read law at university but the day I qualified as a solicitor I retired. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer. In my mid-thirties I started painting and realised I wanted to be an artist, but it wasn’t until I was 40 that I…

The Injured Jockeys Fund will open its second respite and rehabilitation centre in Malton, North Yorkshire this month. (Its first rehabilitation centre, Oaksey House in Lambourn, opened in 2009.) The project to build Jack Berry House has cost £3.1 million with the money collected via a fundraising campaign and from the racing community. One of the most generous supporters was Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, who decided to contribute the prize-money amassed by 20 of his racehorses during the 2014 season to the project. The total donated in this way was £500,000. Jack Berry House will have a state-of-the-art hydro pool, a large, fully equipped gym, four treatment rooms and four en-suite respite rooms. The Hydroworx 500 therapy pool will be known as the Reuben Foundation Rehabilitation Pool following an ongoing…

FOR many shoots any big change will seem like a step too far but that does not mean that there is no scope for enhancing the biodiversity contribution. Simple things such as increasing the variety of cover crops, creating a few skylights in the woods, opening out an overgrown pond, filling in some gaps in the hedges and sharpening the focus of the predation control can all bring a double benefit. First, they are likely to improve your sport; secondly, they should help other wildlife, too. The GWCT’s advisory service specialises in delivering shoot management and biodiversity advice that is tailored to the needs of the specific situation. The aim here is to devise an achievable action plan for the future that will enhance the shoot and its wildlife contribution…

FIRST the good news: in the eastern half of England, all the way down from Yorkshire to the Home Counties and Hampshire, the population of brown hares has reached an excitingly healthy level. Now for the nasty part. In its wake follow tribes of illegal hare poachers – menacing gangs of men in vans and 4x4s who use their vehicles to ram their way on to farms, where they run their lurchers on hares and gamble on the outcome. These illegal courses are often videoed to be shown later for further betting opportunities. Having begun with trespass, vandalism and illegal coursing, an evening’s entertainment is often rounded off with further damage, theft and, if a keeper or landowner is unlucky enough to walk in on the thugs, violence. Charlie Flindt…

SMOKING food has never been more popular than it is today. There has been a huge resurgence in the age-old techniques such as smoking, curing and preserving. Like so many things in life, however, smoking is tough to get right. I have tasted endless leathery, carbonised, sooty and downright awful offerings over the years. The modern taste for smoked foods requires a light and elegant touch by the smoker, who needs a good understanding of preparation to get the process spot on. I suggest we break down the art into its component parts in order to get a handle on how to get it right from the start. Firstly, there are two styles of smoking. TECHNIQUES HOT SMOKING Meat and fish are smoked while being slowly (or quickly) roasted. This…

ONE of my favourite quotes about dogs is from American novelist Agnes Sligh Turnbull: “Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” This explains, perhaps, why they are such popular subjects for portraits. What better way to remember a faithful friend? My own little gallery of canine portraits gives me great pleasure, long after the subjects have departed for the happy hunting grounds. My first canine portrait wasn’t commissioned. Penny, my tricolour working springer, stayed with an artist friend of mine, Tim Greenwood, while I was on holiday. She came home three weeks later with her food bowl, bed, lead and a wonderful watercolour. Curiously, although Greenwood was a wildlife artist of repute, exhibiting at the Royal Academy summer exhibition several times, this is the only dog painting of…

The Field cannot accept legal responsibility for answers given in these columns. HANG OUT THE GRANDKIDS QI have lost a few trees over the winter and now have the perfect situation to hang a decent hammock for my growing family of grandchildren. Can you suggest a company that sells large hammocks? I would prefer a telephone number or an address to order, please. BBT, Oxfordshire A Hammock Heaven has a wide selection. An ideal choice would be the Hamaca Cayo double hammock (above), 100% recycled cotton and large enough for two adults. It is available in a variety of colours at a cost of £60 plus fixture. Hammock Heaven also sells a hammock chair for £60. Call 020 8123 0557 to order or visit www.hammockheaven.co.uk. PETER’S FRIENDS Q…

MARCH UNTIL 11 MR TURNER, AN EXHIBITION Petworth House, West Sussex, tel 01798 342207. UNTIL 13 GUY TAPLIN EXHIBITION Messum’s, 28 Cork Street, London W1, tel 020 7437 5545; www.messums.com . 1 CAMBS WITH ENFIELD CHACE POINT-TO-POINT Horseheath, Cambridgeshire, tel 01954 718111. 1-21 EXHIBITION BY HORTICULTURAL ARTIST LOUIS TURPIN The Fosse Gallery, The Manor House, The Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, tel 01451 831319. 3-12 WILD TROUT TRUST AUCTION More than 230 lots: fishing, shooting, art, tackle, flies, books. For a catalogue, call 023 9257 0985 or visit www.wildtrout.org . 7 BONHAMS CARRIAGE DRIVING SALE Banbury Road, Kidlington, Oxford. Includes 30 carriages from a private collection; www.bonhams.com/auctions/22921 . 10-13 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL Gloucestershire; http://cheltenham.thejockeyclub.co.uk . 11 OXFORD SCHOOLS CHALLENGE (UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS,…

OCCASIONALLY within our sporting lives we experience something so special that nothing is ever quite the same again. That was how it felt to shoot my first day of driven grey partridges many years ago. I remember the chattering of the oncoming coveys, flankers blowing their whistles to alert the waiting guns, the explosion of the birds over the hawthorn like shrapnel, their jinking swerving flight; it was, I felt, the epitome of driven game-shooting. Of course, days like this were once commonplace during the early season. Before intensive agriculture, the grey partridge was Britain’s most prolific gamebird. But with many issues now affecting the species’ survival, it’s little wonder its iconic call is heard so rarely, save for in a few strongholds. Like other enthusiasts, I hated the idea…

IMAGINE our countryside alive with wildlife. Green lanes erupting in clouds of butterflies as you pass, water-meadows dappled with the flight of lapwings and moorlands filled with the cries of curlew, plover and other birds; the sort of richness we see only in documentaries about remote rainforests and tropical reefs. There really were such times in Britain. The first naturalists in the world lived here and in the 18th century, just before the population boom and Industrial Revolution, the journals and letters of people such as Gilbert White captured a Britain abundant in natural diversity. Most of it has gone. In the past 50 years alone, 60% of 3,148 species studied in Britain have declined, one-third of them seriously, and it’s not just the iconic birds and butterflies that have…

PERHAPS no public house in Britain is better known than Jamaica Inn at Bolventor on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Every year, thousands come to the place made famous by Daphne du Maurier’s novel – even more since the muffled BBC adaptation in April 2014 (despite much of it being filmed in Yorkshire). Outside, meanwhile, under an often slate-grey sky and lashing rain, the 80 square miles of Bodmin Moor, with its sweeping horizons, ancient bogs and boulders, lies largely unexplored. “It’s a wild, rough place up there,” a drinker at the Royal in Bodmin warned Mary Yellan in the novel as she embarked on her coach journey to Jamaica Inn in 1821. “If it’s work you are looking for, you won’t find it on the farms. They…

IN late-mediaeval Europe the crossbow was the most popular hunting weapon, especially for the noble and royal hunt in which the deer was the most prized quarry. More powerful bows were developed to replace the wooden self bow: first, the composite bow, formed of horn, wood and sinew; then the even more powerful steel bow. This was made possible by the development of mechanical devices to span the bows: the windlass, a gaffle or goat’s-foot lever and the cranequin. The crossbow continued to be used for hunting in Europe long after it had been replaced by firearms on the battlefield. In Tudor and Stuart England a particular form of crossbow was developed, and this was used by royalty and sent abroad as a royal gift. Many such crossbows are decorated…

THE gun tested this month is a Beretta 486 round-action, 20-bore side-by-side. The 12-bore model, launched in 2013, was reviewed in that year’s August issue. This scaled-down version appeared only recently. Initial impressions are of an unusually elegant round-bar, trigger-plate gun. The compact, well-proportioned action is silver finished and presented with fine rose-and-scroll engraving (laser applied, but you would be hard pressed to tell). There is asymmetric scalloping to the rear of the action body. It looks quite modernistic but not excessively so. The action furniture is silver finished, too, which leads to a clean but classical appearance. The 486 has 30in, steel-shot proofed, 3in-chambered, multi-choked barrels. The trigger is single and selective. There is a fairly open-radius pistol-grip stock combined with a beaver-tail fore-end. They are well matched. This…

OUT here in the countryside, we rural folk are waiting nervously to see just what will replace the Land Rover Defender. Will it be a hose-down, vinyl-floored, box-shaped chunk of practicality? Or yet another four-wheel-drive handbag? Those of us with a hunch that it will be the latter are looking for alternatives. This may explain why Jeep is pushing its aged Wrangler. This is a vehicle that matches the Defender when it comes to no-nonsense off-roading and – if you believe Jeep’s claims – even beats the Land Rover when it comes to heritage and history. The rest of the Jeep range is moving along nicely, developing in sophistication and style. Not so the Wrangler. It’s not pretty. It looks like the love-child of a Hummer and the original wartime…