The Field January 2017

“Our challenge is to explain the constant human intervention that maintains our countryside” THE BBC is obsessed with its “talent”: the celebrities who apparently persuade people to watch its programmes. From Gary Lineker to Fiona Bruce, these stars are the most important factor in attracting audience and securing those all-important ratings. Relationships between the BBC and its performers can sometimes be difficult, as was most obviously seen recently in the saga of Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear. There is, however, another even more important relationship that is becoming ever-more stretched: that is the one between the BBC and the countryside. Think about it for a moment; the number of BBC programmes that rely on the countryside is astounding. Obviously Countryfile, Springwatch, Autumnwatch and any number of spin-offs and copies fill…

“‘I spend a lot of time just looking at animals and observing their expression and behaviour’” BROOKS ON CAPTURING THE CHARACTER OF HER SUBJECTS KATE Brooks’s baby boy is too young to appreciate just how lucky he is to have an artist for a mother. His nursery is decorated with a menagerie of pastels of mainly everyday animals that are characterful rather than cute. A rabbit is reminiscent of Beatrix Potter’s creations in being extremely well-observed, but there the similarity stops. Wild rabbits don’t wear jackets and bonnets, and neither does Brooks’s. And where decorative artists fall for the charm of a rabbit eating a primrose, Brooks’s rabbit is eating something weedish – and there is a strong suspicion that whatever it is might have been growing in close proximity…

Partridge projects win Purdey awards An ambitious project to restore wild grey partridges to Northern Ireland is the 2016 winner of the Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation. David Sandford, owner of the Portloughan Shoot in County Down, was presented with the trophy and £5,000 in the Purdey Long Room on 25 November. Sandford persuaded 21 farmers to work together under Northern Ireland’s Countryside Management Scheme to create wild-bird cover on 2,000 acres of former grassland. Grey partridge seed mix was sown on rough grass margins, stubbles and arable headlands to provide the habitat to support wild greys. Once this was established, Sandford introduced grey partridges by importing family units of indigenous Irish brood stock. Four coveys were released in 2015 and again in 2016. The controlled breeding programme is…

FIRST JOINT CHURCH WINNERS Stanbrook Abbey Church (below), built for an order of Benedictine nuns on the North Yorkshire moors after they relocated from Worcestershire, and a project to extend the parish church of St Mary and St Thomas of Canterbury in Wymondham, Norfolk, share the Presidents’ Award presented by the National Churches Trust. WALK RAISES FUNDS FOR ABF Former keeper John Cavana and show organiser Richard Walton (wearing tweeds and hunting dress) joined more than 100 walkers on The Frontline Walk to help raise a record sum of £180,000 for the Army Benevolent Fund. The 100km walk lead across the Western Front of France and Belgium, from Lochnagar Crater to Menin Gate. OLIVE EDIS EXHIBITION The first exhibition of the work of pioneering British photographer Olive Edis, Fishermen &…

The Atlantic Salmon Trust’s 50th anniversary auction goes live on 14 January with nearly 200 lots, including fishing, stalking and shooting in the UK and overseas. There is salmon fishing in Norway (guide price from £1,620), Birgham Dub on Tweed (£500), Stobhall on the Tay (£585) and Park on the Dee (pictured, £350); trout fishing on chalkstreams, plus a week’s wild trout fishing on lochs on Islay with accommodation (£830). Founded in 1967 in Fishmongers’ Hall in London, the Trust is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an international scientific symposium and gala fundraising dinner at Syon House on 25 May 2017. Over the past half a century, it has raised £20 million to help fund research to improve the management of salmon and sea trout. But salmon numbers continue to…

3-5: Oxford Farming Conference Oxford University, Oxford. Theme for 2017 is “Thrive or Survive”. Visit: www.ofc.org.uk 4-5: Cocker Spaniel Championships Abbeystead Estate, Lancashire. www.thekennelclub.org.uk 5-8: The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, W1. www.mayfairfair.com 6-15: London Boat Show ExCel, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway E16. www.londonboatshow.com 8: West Percy Point-to-Point Ratcheugh Farm, Alnwick, Northumberland (first race 12.30pm). Tel: 01665 603231. 11: River Thurso Opening Ceremony Ulbster Arms Hotel, Halkirk, Caithness (10am). www.thursoriver.co.uk 14: Barbury International Racing Club Point-to-Point Barbury Racecourse, Wiltshire (new fixture, 11.30am). Tel: 01672 516125. 15: Yorkshire Area Club Point-to-Point Sheriff Hutton, near York, North Yorkshire (in aid of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, first race midday). Tel: 01347 878439. 22: Silverton Point-to-Point Black Forest Lodge, Devon. Tel: 07764 461575. 27: BASC Taste of…