Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2015 i The Field

WE’VE all seen newspaper headlines calling for further legal restrictions (and sometimes outright bans) on firearms. They tend to follow the sort of outrage that today’s world has spawned. Organisations such as my own and others that are members of the British Shooting Sports Council, spend considerable energy explaining why sound and evidenced processes can maintain public safety and the sporting freedoms and values that Britain is famed for and why yet more statutory controls are not the answer to every threat, however real. This principle underscores shooting organisations’ approach to the guidance developed by the police and Home Office, which looks to provide a framework governing unannounced home visits for police to check and advise on security arrangements. The guidance makes clear that visits, which should not be at…

The GWCT will run farmland bird identification days all over the country in January to help farmers and keepers prepare for the second Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), which takes place from 7 to 15 February. Participants are asked to spend 30 minutes recording the species and number of birds seen on one particular area, ideally at first light. Last year the 500 people who got out their binoculars – and their gumboots – to take part recorded more than 116 species of bird, including starling, lapwing and tree sparrow, all on the red list of conservation concern. Jim Egan from the GWCT says, “We hope that even more people will register to join the BFBC in 2015 to make it even more successful. It is a useful way to…

THERE are guns to dream about, guns to cosset and guns to use hard. We considered the world’s most exclusive guns in the June issue but it seemed something a little more down to earth might also be useful to readers. This guide to such practical sporting weapons is based primarily on personal experience as to what offers maximum functional utility and the most “bang for the buck”. The list has been refined with input from the gun trade and other experts. Every gun mentioned has been shot extensively. It has been an interesting (and challenging) task to choose 12 from so many contenders. The guide addresses several basic questions: which guns represent the best bargain; are the most popular; and work well in the sense of being well made,…

WHEN the family descends for the festive jollities there is no better way to distract the troops than by bringing out the board games. Yes, they can cause just as much tension as how one cooks the turkey or goose but they also unite. And the tension created when Great-Aunt Maud gloats over her Monopoly “rent” is short lived. As someone with a penchant for Trivial Pursuit (Eighties edition), I wonder what could be lovelier than a full leather version to contemplate when four cheeses down. A word of warning: if you are going to invest in a serious board game leave board-flinging proclivities at the door. A bespoke games table is a thoroughly covetable accessory. For one with wow factor go to Alexandra Llewellyn. Llewellyn makes backgammon boards and…

KRIEGHOFF K-80 PARCOURS Price £11,310 incl VAT From Alan Rhone Ltd 6 Coed Aben Road, Wrexham Industrial Estate LL13 9UH Tel 01978 660001 www.alanrhone.com THIS month’s test gun is a 32in Krieghoff K-80 Parcours over-and-under imported into the UK by Alan Rhone of Wrexham. Rhone is well known for his long-standing involvement with this German company and has contributed to the evolution of this shotgun. First impressions of the gun, a model introduced about two years ago, are that it is a big and rather unusual beast. Boldly engraved with scrollwork (one of a number of options available to the buyer), it is notable not only for its long, side-ribbed barrels (other K80s dispense with joining ribs and have a collar at the muzzles) but for its intriguing, sliding-top action.…

REMARKABLE PLANTS THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD by Helen and William Bynum Thames & Hudson, £25 ONE doesn’t need to know pricking from pruning to appreciate the role plants play in our survival. Within the eight chapters here – Transformers, Taste, Heal and Harm, Technology and Power, Cash Crops, Landscape, Revered and Adored, and Wonders of Nature – the ugly, useful, essential and sublime are described. The authors delve into plants’ history and the mythology surrounding them, examining modern applications. With 205 exquisite illustrations (174 in colour), this book is beautiful. The botanical paintings, drawing and artworks taken from collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are tantalising to look at; the white grapes are so convincing one just wants to lift them straight from the page. From rice to rhubarb…

I was recently afflicted by a dreadful lurgy. Lethargic, ulcerated tongue, headaches, bloodshot eyes – it all pointed to some form of Ebola max. Due to a hectic schedule of work and play culminating in our two-day/ three-night black powder Rude Boys Shoot I had been unable to consult the infallible Dr Hollings. Happily, our paths crossed on night four when I was attending the 50th birthday party of Mrs Percy, mother of the Famous Five and much-put-upon wife of my friend, Percy, he of the Perfect Sperm. The Doc encouraged me to stick out my tongue during the pudding course and then giggled. “An aphthous or common ulcer,” was his verdict, which was slightly disappointing for someone hoping for a bluer-blooded complaint. “Caused by an increasingly hedonistic lifestyle and…

An Aberdeenshire moorland estate and a mixed livestock farm in Buckinghamshire that have both made “remarkable” improvements to wildlife habitat are the joint winners of the 2014 Purdey awards for Game and Conservation. Neil Brown, headkeeper at the Allargue estate in Aberdeenshire, and George Eaton of Rectory Farm were presented with the Purdey Awards shield and cheque for £4,000 each in Purdey’s famous Long Room on 20 November. On the Allargue estate two-thirds of the 500 acres of mature conifers on former Forestry Commission land have been restored to heather. The judges, who included Field Editor Jonathan Young, noted how blackgame numbers have increased and wildfowl have benefited from the wetland created after trees were removed. The estate has been owned by the Farquharson and Forbes families for 400 years.…

HAD Lucy Land and her family not made a chance stop at a farm shop while on holiday in South Africa two years ago, Zulucow wouldn’t exist. “It was just a little place on the side of the road but it sold wonderful cowhide bags and belts. I’d never seen patterns or quality like it,” recalls Land, who admits to getting rather carried away. “I bought so many things that we had a job squeezing everything in our luggage. “Once home, people would ask me where I got my bag and belt; strangers approached me on the street even. At the time I was freelancing as a cameraman/producer for Racing Post TV,” Land explains. “We were living on Exmoor, which is not an ideal commute to places such as Newmarket.…

THE savoury is having a moment. Rather like those late-Victorian and Edwardian stalwarts tweed and facial hair, it has crept on to the modern menu. This piquant morsel has always had a place among the traditionalists. But from the middle of the 20th century sweet things took over in dining-rooms across the country. The fusty world associated with the savoury was banished by the force of the modern. For those inclined to savoury tastes, and those who regularly spend time in the field are so inclined more than most, nothing can beat the cheese, eggs, smoked and cured meats and fish combined of the after-dinner savoury. The savoury was born in the Victorian era as a useful way to disguise food past its best, and to whet the thirst. It…

HOW often do we southern softies eat haggis? Once a year at the most, I would guess, on Burns Night (25th of this month) and then only to show solidarity with the McNeighbours. Oh, and to drink plenty of single malt and wear a skirt. My wife is from Scottish stock and has always affected to love haggis. I’m from Kentish stock and have always affected not to. But something strange happened recently: I had some haggis and loved it. I mean, I wolfed it down. Well, OK, strictly speaking Macsween’s Moroccan Spiced Vegetarian Haggis isn’t really haggis. And it was stuffed inside a roast chicken with a lot of gravy. But it was nutty, spicy, sweet, creamy and utterly delicious, full of apricots, ginger, prunes and citrus. And it…

THE development of Joseph Szecsei’s unique rifle has an interesting story. It followed a close shave in 1989 during a Zimbabwean safari when, having successfully discharged both barrels of an over-and-under .458 double rifle, he found himself exposed to the charge of a further two angry bulls. Having survived, he designed a repeating, double-bolt-action rifle using computerised technology. Szecsei, a Hungarian, moved to Canada in 1951 and took with him acknowledged skills as a gunmaker. Although employed as a tool and die maker for the Ford Motor Company, he set himself up in what became a successful motor component company. But he retained his enthusiasm for hunting and gunmaking and the success of his business bought him the opportunity to shoot big game. By 1994 seven Szecsei rifles had been…

The Field cannot accept legal responsibility for answers given in these columns. NEEDLES AND SPINS QI thought it would be fun to try and have our wind-up gramophone serviced. I think the main body needs repair and we definitely need a new needle. Can you suggest anyone who might be able to help? WW, Devon A John Sleep in Cornwall can repair and restore your gramophone. His advice is to get the piece working perfectly but keep it as close as possible to the original. The parts that usually require attention are the motor (the springs become tired with age and often need cleaning and greasing) and the sound box, which has a rubber gasket that might need to be replaced. Sleep can provide suitable needles in a soft, medium…

MORRIS MEADOW Warwickshire art gallery Compton Verney has commissioned Dan Pearson to design a wild-flower meadow mown with a William Morris design on the west lawn. Pearson will be the first garden designer to work on the grounds since Capability Brown. MUSSEL BUILDING Anglers should take “every possible precaution” to prevent the destructive Quagga mussel, found in the River Colne system and at Wraysbury reservoir, spreading to other rivers. Sightings should be reported to www.nonnativespecies.org/alerts. DRAPERS AWARDS Kelso-based country-clothing retailer A Hume was judged the best independent retailer at the 2014 Drapers Independents Awards. The business, founded in 1929 and still run by the Hume family, also won the award for best multichannel operator. To contact the Opening Shots News Desk send an email to caroline.bankes@timeinc.com…

A project to regenerate a sterile brick channel on a Manchester river and a restoration scheme on the River Kennet are the joint winners of the 2014 Wild Trout Trust Conservation awards. The Environment Agency worked with volunteers to widen the channel on the Medlock and remove the brick lining and two weirs. Brown trout and kingfishers have been seen in the restored section of the river for the first time in a hundred years. On a stretch of the Kennet the Eastridge estate and Windrush AEC improved the fish passage, habitat, vegetation on the river-banks and water-meadows. The winner in the amateur category was the Cotswold Fly Fishers club for its work improving the habitat on the Sherborne Brook in Gloucestershire. At the awards ceremony at the Savile Club…

SCHOOL SHOOTS I was interested to read the article about the Sedbergh shoot (Cold bath at school shoot, November issue). As a current student at Ampleforth College, which maintains a fierce rivalry with Sedbergh, I would hate for this to go unchallenged. The Sedbergh shoot is not “unique”: there has been rough-shooting in the valley at Ampleforth since time immemorial, a semi-driven-shoot for 24 seasons and now a fully driven-shoot. There is a syndicate of eight college guns who pay a subscription to finance the shoot. We shoot about eight driven days a season with other walked-up and vermin-control days. Students beat and help with the gamekeeping for their first three years and are then offered a gun in the sixth form if they have shown commitment. In the third…

Buy woodland, not just commercial forestry blocks. Demand will soar when oil prices rise. However, if you want a dollar investment and size matters, consider north-eastern US forestry. Avoid a bidding war unless you just have to have that particular stretch. Wishing you had offered a fraction higher becomes more painful every year. If carefully planned, a good family shoot can be run on less than 200 acres but planting from scratch needs patience. Don’t be put off by: boreholes, when they are restricted you’ll wish you had one; footpaths, most are seldom used; solar farms (I’m told that, with imagination, they can look like lakes).…

THEY’RE the leviathans of the shotgun world, huge beasts that slumber on the sidelines of our sporting history. Today their voices are mostly silent but when they do speak, it is with a mighty roar. Few people have handled a punt-gun, and fewer still have fired one, but these long, grey monsters never fail to draw a knot of awestruck admirers to the wildfowling club exhibit at a country fair. When they are offered for sale or turn up at auction, there is a flurry of interest. Nobody who passed the Bonhams stand at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim last July could have failed to spot the magnificent Holland & Holland 1½in breech-loading gun, built in 1904 for Obaidullah Khan, second son of the Sultan of Bhopal. Unusual fowling…

2012 SOUTHERN RIGHT PINOTAGE (£14, Waitrose) Gloriously juicy, spicy, ripe and fab with haggis bobotie. 2013 EXQUISITE COLLECTION NEW ZEALAND PINOT NOIR (£7, Aldi) A snip at this price and great with wild boar haggis. 2013 EVANS & TATE “BREATHING SPACE” CABERNET SAUVIGNON (£9 each if you buy two, Majestic) Remarkably fine red from Australia’s Margaret River. 2012 PAVILLON DU CHATEAU BEAUCHENE, COTES DU RHONE (£9.50, Private Cellar) Headily scented and full of gloriously spicy fruit. 2013 TONS DE DUORUM WHITE (£8.50, Tanners) Delicate, citrusy and ideal for haggis-stuffed chicken. 2010 CORNEY & BARROW COMPANY RESERVE CLARET (£12, Corney & Barrow) Silky smooth, merlot-rich claret of immense style.…

IF you have ever been driven pheasant-shooting then you are sure to be familiar with the sight of a dog trailing a lead and what looks like a giant corkscrew, galloping furiously behind the pegs, picking-up and then dropping a series of dead pheasants. Much whistling, shouting and cussing from the dog’s owner, all ignored by the errant animal, invariably support this entertaining display. It’s a reminder that it’s extremely difficult to tether a fit young retriever to soft ground and that the shooting field is no place for an unsteady dog that hasn’t completed its training. Of course, everyone would like to own an impeccably mannered, rock-steady peg dog but such animals are scarce. They usually belong to serious dog handlers, people who often trial their dogs or individuals…

HAVING grown up selling rabbits to the local butcher for 50p and using squirrels’ tails to tie flies, I have never missed an opportunity to share my love of fieldsports. One of my most vivid memories of serving in the Falklands was trying to persuade some upland geese to fly over three junior officers with guns. My company, Halstock, hosts two shoot days each year at Stockton shoot in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, with Barney Stratton. They provide the perfect opportunity to network and introduce a gaggle of architects, interior designers and property folk to shooting and entertain them with a hundred of Stockton’s finest partridges and pheasants. However, on one occasion a valued client, who had never shot before, was getting cold feet. After much reassurance, I convinced…