Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i The Field

“Now, the Directive has been identified as a vehicle in the fight against terrorism” IN the wake of a terrorist outrage or criminal incident involving large-scale loss of life, it is understandable that governments seek to take urgent action in response to overwhelming public pressure. We saw it in Britain after the massacre at Dunblane in 1996 and we are seeing it again today in Brussels, still reeling from the March bombings. Five days after the gun attacks that occurred in Paris last November, the European Commission hastened forward its proposals to amend the European Firearms Directive. Such prompt action might appear commendable but rushed legislation is all too often bad legislation and, unfortunately, the changes that the Commission has proposed carry with them a string of unintended consequences. I…

There’ll be a packed programme of gundog demonstrations and coaching at the Field & Country Fair at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, on 10-12 June. Gundog trainer Howard Kirby of Lains Shooting School & Mullenscote Gundogs will be commentating in the gundog demonstration arena. Owners will be able to have their dog assessed against puppy, novice, intermediate or advanced criteria, with assessment award certificates, rosettes and a doggy goody bag for all participants. Nick Ridley will wield the mic in the working dog ring, which will include spaniel demonstrations run by gundog trainer and breeder Neil Varney. Breeders will be on hand to offer advice in the Sporting Dog Pavilion while expert James Oliver heads the Kennel Club-run gundog eye clinic. There’s also a lurcher arena, falconry mews and a game cooking…

MAY 4-8MITSUBISHI MOTORS BADMINTON HORSE TRIALS Badminton, Gloucestershire. Visit www.badminton-horse.co.uk 6-8PETWORTH PARK ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR Petworth House, West Sussex, tel 01797 252030. 9-10YORKSHIRE CHARITY CLAY SHOOT Swinton Park, Masham (in aid of the CA and Prince’s Trust). Contact adrian-blackmore@countrysidealliance.org 13 WORLD PHEASANT ASSOCIATION CHARITY CLAY SHOOT Compton Manor, Stockbridge, Hampshire; and 21 Dunkeld House Hotel, near Perth. Entry is £640 a team; to book a place, email offi ce@pheasant.org.uk 13-15CHATSWORTH INTERNATIONAL HORSE TRIALS , Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Visit www.chatsworth.org 1317 ROYAL WINDSOR HORSE SHOW Windsor Great Park, Windsor, Berkshire. Special celebration to mark The Queen’s 90th birthday in evening on 14th-17th. Visit www.rwhs.co.uk 13-9 JULY SCULPTURE IN THE GARDEN Pangolin London, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1; tel 020 7520 1480. 14-15GWCT WHITFIELD ANNUAL CLAY SHOOT Whitfield Estate,…

ANOTHER COUNTRY “Why can’t we fish at the top of the hill, where I can get some signal?” FAIR PLAY? I am writing to raise my concerns about the new Countryfile Live fair. As the name suggests, the fair is a spin-off from one of the BBC’s most popular shows, Countryfi le, and will undoubtedly gain from the association and marketing power of both its namesake and the BBC. Since announcing Countryfile Live, the company organising the show on behalf of the BBC, SME, has changed its mind several times regarding exhibiting firearms. Finally, in March, we were given an absolute “no”. This decision is a result of the BBC’s policy not to provide “advertising for weapons and gun clubs”, a policy that lists “adult” and “tobacco” products in the…

“I hope, for the sake of his sex life, that ‘sock darning’ is an obscure Army euphemism” WHEN I was five, I went swimming with my school and afterwards got dressed on my own, properly, for the first time. Halfway through this taxing procedure, something vital struck me that I felt the world must hear immediately, so I flung open the cubicle door to enlighten everyone. Sadly, I had forgotten to put my pants on and the world laughed heartily at my little white bum cheeks. One might have thought in the 27 years since that I’d have learned to avoid such embarrassment. Yes, on the whole, I manage to hold onto my underwear in public (there was just one calamitous incident at a “rural erotica”-themed fancy-dress party) but I…

“We found the .22 air rifle just the job but could not resist having one shot with the 12-bore” WHENEVER conversation with older country folk turns to the rook, there is always much nostalgic talk of rook pie. I got the gist of this many years ago: young rooks, referred to as “branchers” as they hop around on the branches, were shot in the vicinity of the nest and a pie was made from the breast meat. It is also widely held that the “four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie”, of nursery rhyme fame, actually applied to “black birds”, presumably young rooks rather than our popular garden songster. Many older Devon people I know would wax lyrical about rook pie and organised rook-shoots used to be a traditional part of…

THE average trout you see on a restaurant menu or supermarket slab is an eviscerated, 3/4lb rainbow. In itself, there is nothing wrong with this – well prepared, it makes for a fine, nutritious meal – but anyone who has ever eaten a larger, wilder fish fresh from the river knows there is something better to be had. Hugo Hardman of Chalk Stream Foods is such a man, and this is the story of how two chance conversations fired him with a mission to bring those fish to your table. Over the years, some of my best meals have been fish fresh from the river, the time from water to mouth measured in yards and minutes. As a sallow youth, my preferred method was a fire, a gutted fish pierced…

The Field cannot accept legal responsibility for answers given in these columns. NAME THAT BIRD Q I am keen to find a course that will teach my wife and me the basics of identifying birds. We can both name a few but I was recently caught out by a new neighbour and identified as an “idiot” in front of other dinner guests for not knowing a particular bird. I wasn’t, I hasten to add, the only one but I was the only person to confess I didn’t know. Can you suggest anything? RE, by email A The Field Studies Council (FSC) offers a wide range of courses throughout Britain, from Scotland to Cornwall. One course is designed specifically to help you identify British birds with confidence, irrespective of bird-watching experience.…

SWORDS had been carried by hunters since ancient history but it was not until the Renaissance that they became distinct from those used in war. The pictured weapon may initially look similar to most swords from the 11th to 15th centuries, having the cruciform hilt that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of a knightly sword. More specifically, its long, thrusting blade and two-handed grip are features of the estoc, a weapon developed in the 14th century to combat the increasing use of plate armour. However, this German sword of about 1550 was not intended to find gaps in opponents’ defences but was specifically designed for killing boar. Boar-hunting with swords is mentioned as the most challenging of sports by the great 14th-century hunter Gaston III, Count de Foix,…

ASPALL IMPERIAL VINTAGE NO. 286 CYDER (£2.50 per 50cl, Aspall) 8.2%vol and stunning with mum’s lamb in cider. 2013 MILLEFIORI ROSSO DEL VENETO (£10.99, Wine Co) A richly textured Italian red made partly from dried grapes. 2007 LAGUNILLA RIOJA GRAN RESERVA (£8.99 if you buy six; Majestic) Soft, smooth and mellow, full of red berry fruit and vanilla. 2014 DOMAINE DE LA CENDRILLON “ATYPIQUE” (£9.95, Private Cellar) A belter of a Languedoc red, full-flavoured and spicy. ESTERLIN BRUT EXCLUSIF CHAMPAGNE NV (£19.20, Cadestin Wines) Fabulous and with character enough for Kitty Fisher’s cutlets. 2013 OKUZGOZU VINKARA (£7.75, Wine Society) Fine Turkish red that’s unbeatable with lamb shashlik, garlic and rosemary.…

IN Rob Gearing, MD of Spartan Precision Equipment, you find an extraordinarily enthusiastic innovator and designer. He sees opportunities for the international sporting market and is able successfully to develop and promote the highest-quality products. He has worked with Blaser to produce its bespoke bipod and he is currently working with both Sako and Sauer. He recognises the opportunities that extend beyond the stalking market and has even designed equipment for the US Navy Seals. When I reviewed the game-changing Javelin Bipod in the July 2015 issue, Spartan Precision Equipment’s tripod was in the 20-month process of development and field testing with professional stalkers. It has now been launched on the market and is certain to mirror the massive success of the Javelin. The Kapita Shooting Support System, to give…

HAD you asked me 10 or 15 years ago whether we should leave Europe, I would have said yes. I was one of the sceptics who thought that Britain in a federal, United States-style Europe with a single currency could not work. Monetary union without fiscal union was a recipe for disaster. And, boy, we’ve been proved right. My heart-strings still rail against the unelected and unaccountable Brussels bureaucracy and its ponderous inability to make decisions and reform itself. Take the Common Agricultural Policy. It costs EU tax payers €40 billion a year – 40% of the entire budget. Only 75% of spending reaches farmers, four-fifths of it going to the top 10% of farms by income. These tariffs raise food prices and hurt the world’s poorer countries. As British…

Rural churches are offering overnight stays to help raise funds for repairs. Following a successful pilot last year the Churches Conservation Trust, which looks after 350 divested churches, has extended its Champing (church camping) initiative to 10 churches in the south-east; other regions are expected to join next year. “We had no idea it would be so popular,” said Chana James, the Trust’s marketing officer. “Now we are looking at franchising the model.” Nearly 300 people booked to stay in the three churches used for the pilot. The season runs from May to September, with guests paying £55 for a camp bed and full English breakfast in the local pub. The churches have compost loos and a kettle for boiling water but no other washing facilities (www.visitchurches.org.uk). The Champing scheme…

MONNOW RIVERS ASSOCIATION It’s nearing the end of its six-year battle to eradicate Himalayan balsam. The annual auction raised £5,338 to help fund conservation. VOLUNTARY BAILIFF SERVICE Launched by the Angling Trust and Environment Agency, it now operates in six regions. PONY CLUB REVAMP The Pony Club has redesigned its badge to appeal to young riders. PETER RABBIT Will be the first children’s literary character to star on a coin: 50p. NATIONAL GENE BANK The Rare Breeds Survival Trust collected embryos from 60 breeds last year for the bank. DORSET NATURE RESERVE Heathland around a new development is being saved to help protect rare sand lizards.…

THERE can be little more magical than hearing the bubbling song of the curlew rolling across upland pastures on a sunny morning in spring. I may be a bit of a heathen, but for me the song is even more evocative because I count curlew among my greatest wildfowling successes. Long ago, before they were protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, curlew were both a difficult quarry and a substantial meal for me as an unemployed student with limited income. Once, on a wild and gale-torn dusk, I pulled off two right-and-lefts at flighting curlew, and fed royally for several evenings on the resulting casserole – those were the days. Taking the curlew, and several other waders including redshank and grey plover, off the quarry list was in…

I COUNT myself lucky to have spent time in kennels prior to the ban on hunting. Even luckier that it was at The Zetland, grooming hunt horses for David Jukes. This gave me an understanding of what is really happening when out hunting and how hounds are working. The season after this I was, once again, mounted on my own little dabble-grey mare, Lottie, just 15.2hh, with a new set of shoes on. She was bought for little money (due to a tendency to stand up on her hind legs) but had near-perfect conformation and the heart of a lion. I think she enjoyed the thrill of the chase more than me and rarely have I sat on something with quite so much power. It was a particularly dank sort…

SLIMBRIDGE PLANS The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust has been given a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £4.4m towards the £6m needed to renovate conservation pioneer Sir Peter Scott’s home at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. Work is due to begin late next year. RARE BEETLE SOUGHT Charity Buglife is asking landowners to record sightings of the scarlet malachite beetle ( Malachius aeneus ), which can be spotted from early May to mid June. To take part in the survey, visit: www.buglife.org.uk PURDEY AWARDS Shoots actively involved in improving habitats for gamebirds are invited to enter the 2016 Purdey Awards. The total prize fund for the winners is £15,000 this year. To enter, by 16 May, go to: www.purdey.com/shooting-life/purdey-awards To contact the Opening Shots News Desk send an email to caroline.bankes@timeinc.com…

JUTLAND EXHIBITION An exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the largest naval battle in history opens on 12 May at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. The exhibition, 36 Hours, Jutland 1916: The Battle That Won the War, coincides with the opening of HMS Caroline, the only surviving ship, in Belfast this June. “Over 80 items from our collections are being loaned to the Museum, some of which have never been seen before. They will reveal to generations today the stories of the brave sailors who fought in terrifying conditions at Jutland,” said Diane Lees, director-general of the Imperial War Museums. For details, visit www. historic dockyard. co.uk ESSEX CLUB’S 50TH The Essex Fly Fishers’ Club is celebrating its 50th anniversary…

EASY FOLD NET JOHN NORRIS Folds down to pack into a small, neoprene bag. Price £31 Tel 01768 864211 www .johnnorris.co.uk CATCH & RELEASE GHOST NET, BRODIN Lightweight and snag free. Price from £125 Tel 0333 400 4177 www .orvis.co.uk ANNIVERSARY NET FARLOWS In celebration of Farlows’ 175th anniversary. Price £129 Tel 020 7484 1000 www .farlows.co.uk GS NET GREYS Ideal for bank or boat fishing. Extendable pole. Price £20 Tel 01603 400870 www .anglingdirect.co.uk WEIGH NET MCLEAN Short-handled with integral weighing scale. Price £70 Tel 020 7484 1000 www .farlows.co.uk HAND MADE, LIMITED GRAEME ROBERTSON From Alternative Tackle when available. Worth waiting for. Price from £95 Tel 01253 808447 www .alternativetackle.com…

“Whether you’re In or Out, when it comes to fieldsports, this is indeed a great Britain” WALKING a wolf might cause a mild frisson at an English country fair but not a single moustache twitched at the IWA show – and there were flocks of those roosting on our European cousins’ lips, a necessary accessory, it seems, to the natty Bavarian hunting jackets. Perhaps this annoys its owner, Wolf Girl, who’s now practically a fixture at the Internationale Waffen Ausstellung (International Weapons Exhibition) held annually in Nuremberg. True, her hound does have a dash of something domestic but surely it ought to outclass a couple of hairy dachshunds? But at IWA novelty is all, and a couple of teckels trying to savage a stuffed wild boar easily outshone the oh-so-last-year…

“‘There used to be a higher turnover; young riders could break into the sport more easily’” PEOPLE may be living longer than ever, yet our sporting prime rarely expands with our life span. The average retirement age of a professional footballer is 35. In tennis and swimming, you’re often washed up by 26. In gymnastics it’s nearer 20. But there is one sport – and I mean a proper, sweaty, adrenalin-filled sport – in which the silverware seems increasingly to go to those with silver hair albeit because much of the grunt work is done by a horse. Eventing (or Equestrian Triathlon, as it seems soon to be rebranded) lacks nothing in speed and excitement, can be horribly dangerous, and increasingly sees riders of forty- and fifty-something on the winner’s…

FIRE is an integral part of communal British life, be it huddled round the hearth, bonfires, beacons or birthday cakes. When it comes to barbecues, however, the pinny-clad Brit, helicoptering between gas canister and grill, propelled by a pair of tongs and a brolly, pales into insignificance in contrast to the gargantuan grates and flame-taming (and slightly smug) skills of the Yanks and their BBQs and the Aussies and their barbies; in fact, of any country where the summer temperature is higher than 14 degrees. But what the British are brilliant at is cooking on an open fire, from marshmallows on sticks and sausages in a pan to the whole hog on a spit. Be it the spark of flint or the strike of a match, it has brought light,…

Published 1729-1747 THE Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, comprising 220 plates, was the first major illustrated natural history of the British colonies in the Americas. Catesby portrays a wide range of plants, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects. Catesby always tried to paint fresh plants, and birds while they were still alive. However, accurately painting fish, such as this “Great Hog Fish”, Lachnolaimus maximus, was much more difficult because their colour changed once out of water. Edited extract from Rare Treasures from the Library of the Natural History Museum, published by Natural History Museum, £30.…

I LOVE May. The weather should be getting warmer and the fishing season is in full swing. Hesitate, though, and it will be half way over before you know it. With that in mind, I once hit the bank one hot 1 April morning and, third cast, hooked a fine brownie. Dead chuffed, I brought it home having failed to gut it by the river-bank. Finally cleaned near midnight, my wife turned it into trout pâté the next day. End of match result: your correspondent, 1 (fish banked); much aggrieved trout, 2 (days I spent in the “ready to present” position after first turning puce green). I have never let a fish get warm since that miserable opening day. Putting that memory aside and much as I love my fishing,…

OOH, I do like a nice bit of lamb. It’s just one of the many reasons I love this time of year so much. I mean, there’s not much that can touch new season spring lamb. I was brought up on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, longer ago than I like to admit, and locals there swear their lamb is the best in the world and I wouldn’t dare disagree. It’s a beautiful, melancholy spot, Romney Marsh, with its lonely churches standing proud in the middle of nowhere and its shiversome tales of smugglers, revenue men and the notorious pirate-priest Dr Syn. The sheep potter about the marshes quite freely, scoffing the fertiliser-free salt grass, samphire, sea lavender and marsh rosemary, growing fat and tasty in the hardy…

LIDGATE’S: THE MEAT COOKBOOK by Danny Lidgate & Hattie Ellis Mitchell Beazley, £25 IN an era when the majority of people consume industrially reared meat, it is a relief to know that there are still butchers such as Lidgate’s ready to supply the very best. This magnificent meat bible not only furnishes the reader with a host of useful and delicious recipes but encourages a deeper understanding of why the best meat, traditionally reared, really is better for you. Butchery equipment, cuts of meat and technical details are covered at the beginning of each chapter and these are then followed by recipes for the appropriate meat: beef, lamb, pork, chicken and duck, and game. Further chapters on roasting joints, special-occasion cuts and sauces and sides complete the litany. This combination…