Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i The Field

HAVING recently spent time at the climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow, it was shocking that farming and food were ‘missing in action’ from the main agenda. What an oversight. It’s clear that our farming systems have been part of the problem but they could become a big part of the solution. Agriculture is more or less the only sector that has the potential to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it in the soil. The failure to include farming is a missed opportunity for the government. Instead of agreeing to trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, both likely to hurt the interests of UK farmers, we could have launched a new international framework for all future trading of food and agricultural products, with tariff-free trade restricted…

THERE are just a few iconic sporting moments to which we all aspire but rarely achieve. The red-letter day when you catch a trout on the may-fly, or jump that hedge, or shoot a serious January pheasant, is the one that stays with you. And they live in our communal zeitgeist, summing up all that sport means to us. It’s time to make this your year to remember in the field. JANUARY: SHOOT A DIFFICULT PHEASANT Many truly memorable pheasants are shot in January, not just because of the height and speed of these strong birds but due to the fieldcraft needed. By the end of the season, even the dimmest of pheasants will have got the message that something is up and will react accordingly. Respected pheasant shot Jonathan…

Day dreaming is a large part of Atlantic salmon fishing. To be effective, you must imagine a fish lying just to the left of that boulder or holding tight to the edge of this seam. When you make the cast, you must believe a salmon might take the fly. This power of positive thought keeps you alert and enthused. But day dreaming also plays a part in helping soften the blow of hours, days or weeks without success. On such a week, plagued by drought, my mind wandered to the ideal salmon river: which pools had I fished that, in my imaginary watery world, would I put together to form one extraordinary river? LITZA FALLS POOL, EASTERN LITZA RIVER, RUSSIA The highest pool on the river would have to be…

OVER the centuries and particularly in the 19th century, there are many curious firearm designs that have been offered for sale to the public. Most briefly saw some small element of success and a few acquired notoriety due to their association with their users. One such firearm is the ‘Apache’ pistol, of which the Royal Armouries holds several examples. The Apache pistol is of a most unusual design, being a combination weapon with a triple threat, incorporating a revolver cylinder with a folding trigger, a folding knife and a folding knuckleduster, all three elements intended to be useful at close quarters. Its maker was the Belgium gunmaker Louis Dolne who worked in Liège, the centre of the Belgium gun trade, from about 1860 to about 1881 and who patented the…

HOW do you tell you’re at a decent party? One reliable sign in these days of cut-price, soapy supermarket prosecco is the reassuringly expensive pop of a champagne cork. A century ago, at one of the many country house parties that fired the Roaring ’20s, that same discreet pop would also have been the mark of a properly smart bash. If champagne is a treat today, it was eye-wateringly expensive then – and the height of fashion. Champagne’s reputation as the ultimate celebration drink was forged in the late 19th century. The British Empire was in full swing, creating and attracting the world’s wealthiest partygoers, many of whom would regularly escape the dirt and crowds of London to descend on the country’s stately homes. Browse through old lists of the…

A PONY called Mouse, who belonged to the Dartmoor Hunt’s then head groom, Janet Daniels, was my first hunting pony. I went out with the Modbury Harriers – literally right behind the hounds as I couldn’t stop – until they thought I would be safe enough to be let loose on Dartmoor, which I loved every minute of. There were a few of us who were roughly similar ages and we were all members of the Dartmoor branch of the Pony Club. We didn’t miss any Saturdays and I managed to get as many days off school as I could to hunt. I got to know Dartmoor itself by disappearing every weekend either on foot or on a pony, always with 10p in my pocket to ring home if I…

Social spotlight SHOOT OR SLEUTH A spectacular picture of majestic deer posing in front of the equally distinguished Cage at Lyme (a sporting hut of stately proportions) captivated Fielders on Instagram, who showered it with likes. However, one noted that it looked much like the Poirot story The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge. OPTICAL ILLUSION Is it a painting or a photograph? Fielders had to sharpen their eyes to tell what was what, considering the incredibly realistic quality of John Trickett’s sporting artwork. But while some praised the artist’s ‘fantastic eye for detail’, noting that ‘until you really look closely’ the piece appears to be a photograph, others more prosaically centred their attention on the subject of the picture: ‘Nice plum partridge… could make a tasty dish with this one.’ FLY…

A DAY AT THE RACES There’s nothing like the thrill of a point-to-point to usher in the New Year, and the Larkhill Racing Club in Wiltshire is happy to oblige with its event taking place on Sunday, 2 January. But that’s only the start: the January calendar is packed with races, including the West Percy point-to-point at Alnwick on Sunday, 9 January, the Royal Artillery (back at Larkhill) on Saturday 22nd and the Heythrop on Sunday 23rd. For more events, visit pointtopoint.co.uk/fixtures HARD AT WORK The Kennel Club Cocker Spaniel Championship makes a welcome return after last year’s cancellation. Held on 3 and 4 January, it will see the dogs and their handlers battling it out for the top title in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire. For more details, visit thekennelclub.org.uk…

THE Fitzdares Club in Mayfair does not allow betting on games of chance (or any games, for that matter) within its premises, despite being the private members’ arm of Fitzdares, the world’s finest bookmaker. Only food, drink and sport can be enjoyed within its beautifully decorated four walls. This isn’t a strategic decision but rather the consequence of an English law that doesn’t allow alcohol and betting on games of chance under the same roof without a dual licence. This isn’t just incidental to our own story but to the origins of darts as a legal sport in the United Kingdom. Darts has existed in various guises for half a millennium at least. However, it wasn’t until 1908 that a decision on its status as a sport was made. It…

STAR BUY This country estate near the village of Ae comprises a six-bedroom farmhouse, three self-catering holiday lets and extensive outbuildings, which could provide further development opportunities, subject to planning consent. The land is around 60 acres, divided into 16 parcels – a mix of rough grazing, permanent pasture and grass. There is also woodland and a large mill race pond. The stone farmhouse is Grade C-listed with shuttered windows and a carved sandstone staircase. The Hay Loft is a four-bedroom cottage, while Stockmans and Shepherds are both two-bedroom apartments. The Steading is just north of the village on the edge of Ae Forest. It is 12 miles from Dumfries and 70 miles from Edinburgh. Agent: Finest Properties Tel: 01434 622234 Guide price: on application…

The joy of a walked-up day in January provides a palate-cleaning contrast to busy driven days earlier in the season. Now the weather has turned, the birds are wilder and wilier, presenting a greater challenge and the chance to experience the sort of day our grandfathers relished, when you would remember every bird that broke cover and could tell how every bird that made it to the pot was added to the bag. Walked-up shooting is what it says on the tin: one either walks up in a line or as a solitary Gun and shoots any game that gets up. It is usually in this way that the boundaries of the shoot are paid attention, with bags that can vary from about 20 to 60 birds. A far cry…

It has been said in many ways, probably since the dawn of time, that a bad day of hunting is better than a good day of almost anything else. I’ve said it myself, and more to the point there are almost as many reasons to fox-hunt as there are foxhunters. In today’s intense, complicated world, hunting gives one an opportunity to get out in the countryside and immerse one-self into something that has a way to make everything else seem less important than the experience at hand. It manages that in a million ways for as many different reasons… and that is magic. Today, foxhunters love hearing a well-blown hunting horn out in the hunt field, rolling out of the depths of some covert, the echo floating across the countryside.…

When Ian Fleming sat down at his Jamaican retreat in early 1963 to finish You Only Live Twice, he was 54 and entering the final 18 months of his life. The novel’s title comes from the notion that we die upon looking death in the face. Hauntingly, this 12th instalment of the Bond book series contained an obituary, written by M after Bond is believed killed. Two passages of the obituary are especially telling. One is that Bond is ‘of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond of Glencoe, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, from the Canton de Vaud’ (both of whom died in a climbing accident during Bond’s youth). The other concerns ‘his transfer [from Eton] to Fettes, his father’s old school’. Many real-world figures have been claimed as the…

Ghost stories have all but disappeared from contemporary culture. Sure, the BBC trots out the occasional MR James at Christmas, but as a literary and screen genre, ghost stories have become unfashionable. Perhaps, in such a secular age, many people have lost interest in the spiritual dimension. Or is it because ghost stories have been replaced by horror, tailored for audiences who have become so inured to shock that the incremental, creeping fear of a good ghost story fails to satisfy? Which is a pity, because the best ghost stories are chillingly gripping. The brilliance of a good one invariably lies in its subtlety, as fans of MR James, the master of the craft, will attest. Malevolent forces don’t leap out, bearing the mark of the beast, and bludgeon the…

THIS month’s test looks at a type of gun that I have long used for much of my own game shooting: a 32in 20-bore over-and-under. This one is made by Yildiz, a Turkish firm best known in the UK for its well-priced, lightweight, alloy actioned .410s. Yildiz guns are imported into this country by Raytrade, a Hamp-shire-based company that took over UK distribution of the Turkish guns in January 2019. The firm’s intention is to develop the brand further; it also handles Remington, Marlin and Chiappa firearms, as well Barnes bullets and Aimpoint sights, among other things. As for the test gun, the first thing to be said is that you might easily mistake it for a Perazzi. It has similar styling with a low-profile black action and near-identical mechanical…

I HAVE never felt the need to torture myself in January with severe disciplinary actions regarding my diet. It’s dark, cold and often wet, and I want food that makes me feel happy and comforted. For me, few ingredients do the job so well as butter, cream, pasta and potatoes, which are all included in this month’s ‘jolly’ January recipes. And there is no reason for the parties to end, as January has a few of its own festivities to celebrate. There is Burns night on the 25th and, before that, Epiphany on the 6th – the day the kings are said to have brought their gifts to baby Jesus. In France, this day is celebrated with the Galette de Rois. It comes with a crown and inside the cake…

The Environment Agency and water regulator OFWAT have launched “a major investigation into sewage treatment works”, after water companies admitted they may have made illegal discharges into rivers and streams. More than 2,000 works will be checked, in a move that could conceivably see companies face massive fines. (In the same week the investigation was announced, Thames Water was charged £4m for releasing half-a-million litres of raw sewage into two Oxford streams). The news of the upcoming crackdown was met with a tentative welcome by conservationists: “It’s good news – potentially,” says Nick Measham of Salmon & Trout Conservation (S&TC), who believes joint efforts by S&TC and Windrush Against Sewage Pollution to bring a private prosecution case against water companies may have helped trigger the decision to launch an investigation.…

A partnership between the Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST) and Grosvenor’s Reay Forest Estate, in Sutherland, could help change the fortune of the salmon. Over the course of the next 10 years, the two bodies plan to improve the water quality and habitat of the River Laxford from source to sea in a bid to restore its Atlantic salmon and sea-trout populations. “The Laxford catchment has experienced a significant decline in numbers of returning Atlantic salmon,” says the scheme’s technical project manager, Chris Conroy. “A similar pattern has been seen across Scotland and other countries in the North Atlantic.” Changes to the marine environment are thought to be a primary cause of this drop but, notes Conroy, “with management options at sea limited, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation has stated…

If four or five blue tits are spotted at a feeder, they’re likely to be feeding 20 or more as family flocks join up during winter, with their blue, green and yellow plumage adding a flash of colour to gardens year-round. They can be fierce in their quest for food. ‘He digs at the meat like a tiny pickaxe tapping,’ wrote George Orwell in his poem Aptly, the collective noun for a group of blue tits is a ‘banditry’. As accomplished acrobats with a minuscule weight (just 11g), they can hang upside down from branches to search for food and reach the tips of twigs. William Wordsworth captured their acrobatic feeding habits in The local variations of names bestowed upon them was far reaching, from ‘Blue Spick’ in…

KIRKBY WHARFE TADCASTER A five-bedroom, Grade II-listed house, this stone-built property, formerly the village school, dates from the early 17th century and sits in half an acre of mature gardens, overlooking the village green. The kitchen leads to a garden room and there is a range of outbuildings, currently used as garaging, with potential for further accommodation or a home office, subject to planning consent. Behind these buildings is a small copse. Agent: Savills Tel: 01904 617820 Guide price: £850,000 KIRKBY HALL KIRKBY FLEETHAM, NORTHALLERTON This is a nine-bedroom Grade II* country house in North Yorkshire with 20 acres. The drawing room is nearly 50ft in length, looking out over the gardens and lake, while the kitchen has French doors opening out to a terrace. The east wing has three…

Most English hunting horns are created using a standard method of making the individual parts and assembling. Typically, the maker will mark out and cut the shape from a flat sheet of metal that is to become the bell of the horn. That piece is then wrapped around a steel mandrel and hammered into shape with a mallet. The mandrel creates a precise and repeatable shape. It follows that every model of horn therefore has its own specific mandrel. As the sheet metal is hammered and shaped it becomes harder and harder. Heating it up to red heat and allowing it to cool slowly, in a process called annealing, will remove internal stresses and soften it again. A balance between working the cold metal and annealing will give the instrument…

Amere 300 years ago, making whisky was a farmer’s pursuit. Scottish and Irish crofters would distil surplus crops into fiery spirits adept at staving off brutal winters. As time moved on, rules were tightened and taxes heightened. Crude production methods and ram-shackle stills were replaced by evolving know-how and new apparatus to match. The farmers became distillers and spirit merchants, building shop-ready brands that drove smugglers and underground distilleries into obsolescence. A rough-and-ready ploughman’s drink gave way to a refined, palatable dram worthy of a place in the bars of London’s finest clubs. Spirits retailers and local blenders became household names, including Walkers, Dewars and Buchanans. Their blending empires grew, however, they remained humble, family affairs. They were generational craftspeople, passing down the quirks and trade secrets behind their brands…

INVISIBLE LIGHT SWITCHES FORBES & LOMAX This simple, transparent acrylic plate, with discrete metal toggle switches, ensures that your carefully chosen wall covering shines without distraction while you retain full control of the light levels, no matter how many switches you need. There is no excuse for ranks of plastic carbuncles. Price: from £42.30 +vat Tel: 0​20 7738 0202 forbesandlomax.com Colour chart POMPADOUR EDWARD BULMER PAINT Natural and breathable with a chalky matt finish. This iron-oxide tone is perfect for period properties, as a foil for artwork or as a backdrop to a Bloody Mary. Price: emulsion £51 for 2.5 litres Tel: 01544 388535 edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk EASTON FIREPLACE JAMB Make your warm and welcoming hearth an elegant one. This striking Breche marble is figured in an 18th-century design with bolection moulding…

SOME years ago I was picking up on a pheasant shoot, standing behind a Gun with an impeccably behaved labrador. It sat steady as a rock throughout the drive, not even flinching when a bird fell just a couple of feet from its nose. At the end of the drive I walked over and asked the Gun if he would like to send his dog for any of the birds he had shot. The answer was a polite no: it transpired that his labrador was his shooting companion, not his shooting dog. It apparently enjoyed coming out for a day’s sport but it left the retrieving to the professionals. I’ve chuckled about this dog ever since. At the time, I thought it was somewhat eccentric but I’ve now decided it…

THOSE of us who wear wellies to work tend to be sniffy about SUVs. You can hear us sitting in a queue of traffic on one of our rare trips off the land, dismissing the endless fake 4x4s. “What d’you need that for? Tesco car park a bit muddy, is it?” But after a week in the new Nissan Qashqai, I get it. I know why such vehicles are so popular. It was a fairly basic two-wheel-drive manual version – just the sort of machine I would normally shout at – and it was phenomenally competent. That’s not damning it with faint praise; it was really good at doing its job, getting you and your pile of stuff from A to B. On the outside, the Qashqai is a victim…