Innehållsförteckning för October 2020 från The Field

LAPWINGS, curlew and golden plover took a hammering in 2020 that in normal times would have been averted. Gamekeepers watched throughout the spring as herring and lesser black-backed gulls destroyed the eggs and chicks of these and other threatened birds. They could take no action because Natural England (NE) refused nearly all applications for gull control licences, other than for public safety and seaside towns. On 56 grouse moors, keepers recorded 1,355 such incidents. Scale that up for the attacks they didn’t see, or the countryside as a whole, and the total impact of gull predation on birds of conservation concern must have been immense. It was also unprecedented. In 2019, NE issued licences for killing 6,050 adult gulls and destroying 40,000 gull eggs. Before that, herring and lesser black-backed…

PINTAIL SHOOTING WAISTCOAT GAMEBIRDS CLOTHING Vibrant, flatteringly cut moleskin with suede trim and velvet inner collar, made and designed in Britain. Pockets for left and right recoil pads. Generous range of sizes in five colour combinations. BURGHLEY FIELDCOAT FARLOWS Gun-club check Scottish tweed with fully waterproof and breathable drop liner. Half belt and inverted ‘action back’ pleat ensure it fits well for sporting lady guns. BELVOIR SHOOTING SOCKS TOM LANE Made and hand finished in Scotland from 85% merino wool with nylon and lycra; reinforced heel and toe for durability. Elegant cuff design, in purple or green. Available in three sizes, with matching garters. LONDON PATTERN CARTRIDGE BAG EJ CHURCHILL Handmade, soft brown English leather with hinged back for rapid loading. Suede lined and solid brass fittings. Comes in 75,…

Hailed as one of the finest properties in the Welsh border county of Montgomeryshire, Grade II*-listed Glansevern Hall was built between 1801 and 1806 in a Regency Greek revival style. It has eight bedrooms and five reception rooms. It is set in parkland with a five-acre lake and river frontage. There are also walled and woodland gardens – 25 acres in total with a mix of formal planting, ancient specimen trees and lawns, with a wildflower meadow leading down to the River Severn and a raised bird hide. The hall, approached down an avenue of chestnut trees, has a host of period features. Behind the house, connected at first-floor level, is a one-bedroom flat. Glansevern Hall is just over four miles from Montgomery and 25 miles from Shrewsbury. Agent: Savills…

IT’S been a season of shift. What we planned in March for the months leading to autumn – geographically, economically and practically – has changed somewhat. We had intended to go to Portugal, to the opera in Verona and to France for some maxi cheese and bread consumption. I reflected on this as I sat, sweating and slightly panicky, on the edge of the bath in our last-minute holiday cottage rental in Cornwall, with a wetsuit stuck just below my knees. Top tip for the wetsuit virgin: when dragging yourself into a damp and salty rubber-gimp outfit, decide whether you need the loo first. A quick wee before you jump into the car will not be quick if you have to extract yourself from your gimp suit and then try…

I had known Arthur for more than 50 years. He worked all his life in the Northampton shoe trade, a job that included hand-making Harvey Smith’s riding boots, but his passion was shooting and he’d regularly tramp the fields with my father and godfather. He was good with the young and I still treasure a .410 cartridge belt he made for me when I was eight. As a young lad from a shooting family, I liked collecting cartridges, mostly fired ones picked up while beating on local shoots. Imagine my delight when, one Christmas, Arthur gave me a factory-loaded Eley eightbore cartridge filled with BB shot – the holy grail of any young boy’s collection. Little did I know then that one day I would own the gun for which…

Next to catching a salmon, shooting a stag on the hill is, for most Macnabbers, the toughest part of the challenge. Despite the increased interest in stalking in recent years, many otherwise competent and experienced sportsmen and women still have little or no experience in handling a stalking rifle, so the chance opportunity to complete the triple in a single day can involve a steep learning curve. Your stalker will do his utmost to get you into a good shooting position within comfortable range of a beast, but while he is doing that he will also be looking for the right animal to shoot. Stag selection is that element in the stalking equation that is calculated to maintain and improve the long-term quality of the herd by removing the poorer…

Among a rider’s possessions there is none that serves or looks so well as a pristine pair of boots. In most disciplines, riding footwear has evolved in form and function alongside modern manufacturing and fashion but choice hunting ensemble has remained largely unchanged since the early 19th century. Straight cut, English leather boots are considered the most ergonomic and aesthetically accurate for the job. Correct hunting order is black or brown boots for autumn hunting, black boots with blue and black coats and topped boots with a red coat for hunting proper. While turnout is passably interpreted with popular Spanish cut, zip-backed boots and straight-cut, box-calf boots, such as Regent’s Pro Cotswold, which offer an economical style, neither fully match a traditional, heavyweight hunting boot when faced with the rigour…

Of all the tradesmen who were required to make a village self-sufficient – the carpenter, cobbler, butcher, publican and shop keeper – the most important was the blacksmith. From the earliest periods there would have been one smith to every handful of people; he was without doubt the most indispensable member of the community and usually the strongest, too. Under a spreading chestnut-treeThe village smithy stands,The smith, a mighty man is heWith large and sinewy hands.And the muscles of his brawny armsAre strong as iron bands…Week in, week out, from morntill night You can hear his bellows blow;You can hear him swing his heavysledge,With measured beat and slow,Like a sexton ringing the village bellWhen the evening sun is low. From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith, 1841 (the smith in the…

“Born of a deep and abiding love of Ireland and its history, my father, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, created a large library of Irish books at Chatsworth,” recalls the current duke fondly, speaking at Heywood Hill bookshop in London’s Mayfair. “I inherited not only the library but also a great interest in books generally. Now my son, owner of Lismore Castle in Ireland, has moved the library to the country that inspired it, creating another link between the generations.” Those visiting Britain’s stately homes have good cause to marvel at the great libraries, in which the eye travels easily up high bookcases and ladders to ornately carved flourishes and gold-leafed motifs. Less attention tends to go to the leather-bound spines and glinting Roman numerals lining the shelves. Yet assembling…

HIGH LOWSCALES DUDDON VALLEY, MILLOM, CUMBRIA High Lowscales is a traditional Cumbrian farmhouse together with three holiday cottages, set in nearly eight acres of land and currently operating as a business. The property is a hill farm, with features of the renovated farmhouse including exposed beams, slate and wood flooring and fireplaces. The sea views can be taken in from the comfort of the outdoor spa hot tub and barrel sauna. Agent: Finest Properties Tel: 01539 468400 Guide price: £1.65m MOODY COTTAGE BURN HALL, DURHAM Moody Cottage, behind a secure gated entrance, is a barn conversion within the grounds of Burn Hall. The property has four bedrooms and comes with nearly six acres of land. There are plenty of eco-features, including underfloor heating from a ground source heat pump and…

A modest bookshelf in my sitting-room has been my undoing. Tales of black powder and big-bore shotguns have pushed and moulded me into a traditionalist. We fowlers already walk the ground that our forefathers walked. We crouch and shiver just as they did in the same mud-filled gutters hoping to get within shot of the wildest and wariest of birds that grace our coasts. To take a step further into history, some turn to big-bore breechloading 10-, eight- and four-bores. Lovely beasts but expensive. For those with shallower pockets, a bigbore muzzleloader can transport you to those days of old and perhaps secure a goose for around the same price as the much-favoured modern semi-auto. But pursuing wildfowl along our coasts with an English, handmade muzzleloader can only be compared…

William Hague, during his time as leader of the Conservative Party and foreign secretary loved a battle of oratory at the dispatch box in Westminster, or jousts with dignitaries around the world – the sound and fury of politics and diplomacy. Now The Rt Hon the Lord Hague of Richmond and a life peer sitting in the House of Lords prefers, when not involved in his business interests, book writing and speaking engagements, to tend his Welsh garden. Specifically trees, having planted more than 6,000 in the past four years amid the 39 acres of his home in Montgomeryshire. Woodland creation may be a recent project but the buds of Hague’s passion bloomed as a child growing up in South Yorkshire. “We actually lived in a village on the edge…

There was a time, several centuries ago, when potters were simply itinerant craftsmen, little more than tinkers. They roamed the country, using local materials to make receptacles for whoever wanted them. Farmers, for example, wanted butter pots that were thick and heavy so less butter was required to fill them. The potters obliged, duly pottering from village to village plying their trade. However, in North Staffordshire, they were struck by an extraordinary alchemy: underground lay exactly the right materials for their work. They left their travelling days behind and put down roots in Stoke. And lo, the industry with which the city has become synonymous was born. This is probably apocryphal but there’s no doubt that the serendipitous discovery in the mid-17th century of an abundance of exactly the right…

THIS month’s test gun is a new, bespoke, back-action sidelock from William Powell built in association with respected Italian maker Batista Rizzini. It is more than a rebadging exercise, however; this gun has been built to a precise specification for the modern British market as laid out by William Powell and with much input from its own team. The long-established Banbury firm is not only well known for its guns but for its game agency and practical shooting nous. This sort of Anglo-Italian exercise, meantime, often brings positive results. The Brescians are masters of gun manufacture now, especially with regard to computer-controlled machining and production methodology. But there is still a unique repository of gunmaking and finishing knowledge in the UK. In particular, I would say that we have a…

PIES are unquestionably one of my favourite comfort foods. They can be made in advance, are ideal for any number of guests, reheat well and create the sort of enticing aromas that get diners sat at the table quickly. If cooking for a shooting weekend I will always include at least one on the menu as the traditional ones hold so well, usually the first night when arrival times are staggered and unpredictable or for a shoot lunch when the chef is at the mercy of the gamekeeper’s timings. For ‘side’ ideas to accompany pies, such as the pheasant and sherry one, a pile of buttered and peppered leafy greens like cavalo nero and an extra helping of mash or crusty bread go down well. However, if your guests want…

2018 ZALZE SHIRAZ/GRENACHE/VIOGNIER (£7.85, Co-op) Extraordinarily good value red – juicy, jammy and wonderfully gluggable. 2019 FAIRVIEW BARREL-AGED PINOTAGE (£10, Waitrose) In the right hands, as here, Pinotage – RSA’s ‘own’ grape – really can sing. 2019 KLEIN CONSTANTIA ESTATE SAUVIGNON BLANC (£13 if you mix six, Majestic) Gloriously fresh, vibrant, elegant Sauvignon from an estate first planted in the 17th century. 2017 JOURNEY’S END BLUE GUM MERLOT (£13.50, Sainsbury’s) Soft, ripe, generous and daftly under-priced red from very edge of Stellenbosch. 2019 HAMILTON RUSSELL CHARDONNAY (£27, ND John) It doesn’t get better than this: surely the finest Chardonnay in all South Africa. 2015 ARISTEA MÉTHODE CAP CLASSIQUE BLANC (£27.70, Private Cellar) A stunning, traditional-method Pinot/Chardonnay fizz to rival any from Champagne.…

EVERYTHING comes to an end, and I have decided to make this my final article. For many, this will be a considerable relief – especially my two long-suffering children, William and Alexandra, whose adventures and misdemeanors have long provided me with a plentiful supply of column inches. Indeed, my son recently celebrated his 26th birthday at Naworth. He managed to assemble a cast of thousands that outrivalled Bournemouth beach on a hot day. The celebrations lasted for three days and three nights and three mornings. The music was horrendous. Occasionally, I would explode with rage and then they would send around one – or, in the case of a nuclear detonation, two – incredibly pretty girl. They were briefed to express deep and sincere interest in both the refurbishment of…

A report from the University of Northampton has estimated that grouse shooting contributes £67.7m per annum to the UK economy with the indirect benefits possibly as high as £2bn. Entitled ‘What impacts does integrated moorland management, including grouse shooting, have on moorland communities? A comparative study?’, it was conducted by Professor Simon Denny and Tracey Latham-Green. Moorland communities were found to benefit economically from grouse shooting directly through tourism and employment, and indirectly through estates’ investment in conservation and helping with stewardship schemes, which benefits local farmers. The 644 respondents reported a higher than average level of job security, despite being interviewed in the midst of the pandemic. A higher level of wellbeing and lower levels of loneliness were also reported. “Areas of upland England managed for grouse shooting were…

West Country fishing hotel The Arundell Arms has been sold after 60 years in the ownership of one family. The new owners, Simon Village and Arabella Monro, are revamping the 300-year-old former coaching inn in Lifton, on the banks of the Tamar. The cockpit (once used for cock fighting but now used as rod room) is being re-roofed and the public areas and bedrooms refurbished. “We intend to keep the best of the hotel and develop it to ensure it maintains its position as England’s leading country sports hotel,” said Village, a former mining engineer and banker, who now lives in Chagford, Devon. Adam Fox-Edwards took over the hotel from his mother, Anne Voss Bark, in 2010. During lockdown, the hamper business he set up in the hotel’s courtyard flourished,…

FIELD NEHRU GILET CAMPBELL’S OF BEAULY British tweed, made in the UK, on the same block as the classic Nehru but with quilted, tone-on-tone lining and external bellows pockets. Wear over a shirt, or jumper, for easy covertside style this season. LIGHT PACKABLE ARIA JACKET BERETTA Shell layer with BWB (Beretta waterproof breathable) EVO membrane, taped seams and water-repellent treatment on outer. Wear alone on warmer days, over layers when the weather turns. Folds into its own zipped pocket, which can be carried on a belt. Eminently useful. HAAPA JACKET SASTA Soft, water-repellent polyester suede shell with separate Gore-Tex woodland liner. Capacious pockets can be held up for easy reloading. Comes in dark forest or dark brown. Plain and practical. HUNTER GTX BOOT CRISPI Water-repellent, high-cut nubuck upper with rubber…

When 20th-century literary critic John Gross, once described as ‘The best read man in Britain’, was asked towards the end of his life where the hero of Lorna Doone went to school, he fell uncustomarily silent. The answer, of course, known to every West Country schoolboy and girl, was Blundell’s in Tiverton, and nowhere would RD Blackmore’s epic Exmoor landscape be so little changed in 150 years than on the Molland estate, just north of South Molton. Renowned over the years as a destination high-bird shoot, Molland, with more than 6,000 acres and a welcoming pub, the London Inn, a short walk from the main house, has long appealed to serious sportsmen. Part of the attraction is the unique stillness and landscape of the place, the privacy and majestic sighting…

When you fire a rifle (or a pistol) it’s a given that the sights should be adjusted correctly. A shotgun, however, does not normally have a rear sight but you effectively create one as the face comes into contact with the stock comb. If the stock fit is wrong, it is like moving the rear sight of a rifle or pistol up, down or sideways – it will affect shot placement profoundly at the target. With a shotgun, other factors may impact your sighting, most notably your eye dominance and mounting technique. They all interact and may alter where the shot charge ends up. Addressing gun fit in isolation is never enough; ‘dry fitting’ a gun in a shop is inevitably incomplete. There is always a need for further testing,…

A hundred years ago in the wastes of Labrador, northern Canada, a 30-year-old fur trapper could have been seen during the freezing winter months filling large, wooden barrels with alternating layers of seawater and cabbage leaves. Because his wife desperately missed having fresh vegetables during the winter – and having noticed the native Inuit’s way of fast-freezing fish – he had applied their methods to cabbage and discovered that if fast frozen, when thawed the leaves tasted exactly like fresh cabbage. Freezing food wasn’t new but much frozen food tasted mushy when thawed: the fur trapper had discovered that instant freezing was the answer. I’m sure you will recognise his name: Clarence Birdseye. He went on to make a fortune out of his idea. The cabbage leaves he used in…

THE auction world rarely fails to amaze, delight and, on occasion, leave me aghast. Exhibit one, for the prosecution: a pair of used Nike trainers. Not any old trainers, I concede, but in my world view I see trainers as sports shoes made of rubber and leather that, when they wear out and honk badly enough, which they inevitably do if you use them in the manner intended, best belong in the rubbish bin. But not these ones, used though they are. ‘Game worn’ is the inventive term of art used by Sotheby’s, which only added to their value as Michael Jordan (a very tall and, evidently, large-footed American basketball player for those of you who are not ‘up’ on modern US sporting culture) wore them on the professional circuit…

HOW the Santa Fe has changed over its 20-year life. The gawky original, with its Leslie Ash pout and charming simplicity (and price) is now a proper, full-sized beast, up there in the ‘D’ segment of the SUV class. Mind you, I’m not sure such classifications even existed 20 years ago. What that means is that the interior is big – big enough for three rows of seats, although the third is only for short-term use by adults. Youngsters will be far better at working out which buttons to press to get the seats to fold up and down without having to dive into the gargantuan handbook. The inside has a quality feel to it, with plush leather and some superior-feeling plastics. The only let down is Hyundai’s obsession with…