Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i The Field

January sees the new general licences for wildlife management come into force. They replace the temporary ones that applied in 2019 and 2020, when the entire system underwent an 18-month review following a legal challenge launched by the Wild Justice group. Shooting, farming and countryside organisations have welcomed the new licences, which not only include all the birds covered by the temporary regime but also allow control to be carried out in protected areas. “It is clear Defra are trying to produce a licensing system that is legally watertight,” says Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and gundogs. However, he adds, “the conditions on the new licences are more complex” than in the past and people need to make sure they comply with them fully. His advice is to become…

PIES FROM THE SKY Appreciation for chef Philippa Davis’s pocket-sized pheasant pies with blackberry jam was widespread across The Field’s social media channels. “We’re hungry already and it’s only 9am,” one Fielder posted on Instagram. “Looks lush,” said another on Facebook. However, some worried that we might be short of the main ingredient: “Will we get any pheasants this year?” YOU’VE GOT THE BOOKS As we face the coldest months of the year, a good library is the perfect place to retreat to and none more so than the magnificent one at Chatsworth, which drew much admiration among Fielders on social media. One went so far as to say that Chatsworth is “without doubt the best house in England”. Of course, Blenheim Palace, Highclere and Castle Howard may beg to…

Tom Orde-Powlett is spearheading a range of conservation projects on his family’s 12,500-acre estate at Bolton Castle in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, home to a grouse moor run by his father, Lord Bolton, and one of the UK’s last remaining populations of breeding curlew. At the forefront of nationwide efforts to save the curlew, globally classed as ‘near threatened’, Orde-Powlett has organised several conferences to highlight the plight of the bird. As well as restoring and enhancing wader breeding grounds across the Dales, the keepering teams at Bolton and on neighbouring grouse moors have been trained by the British Trust for Ornithology to carry out wild-bird surveys. In Orde-Powlett’s view, the greatest threat to the species is restrictive legislation driven by a powerful anti-shooting ideology. “The RSPB, its vice president Chris…

Statelier than a spaniel, more reliable than a terrier, the labrador retriever proffers steadiness and calm to see the day through. Skill and spirit displayed on the last drive is equal to that on the first. Pace is kept with runners, birds deemed lost are delivered and an alert hush is maintained at every moment in between. Whether bold doggy paddle or confident navigation of cover and country is required to complete the bag, the day closes with their triumphant return – the final prize secured. “Dogged and determined - nothing can take these members of the pack by surprise”…

HOW often have you texted a racing friend to say: “I’m in the Royal Enclosure… where are you?” But did you realise that the reason she’s a no-show is because she is actually a mermaid? In the comicbook world of Dee Taylor’s horse-racing pop art, this unusual scenario gives the opportunity for some wonderful graphic imagery. Taylor says: “As you can tell, Roy Lichtenstein is my main influence. And I am also into comic books, where pop art flashes and speech balloons are a really important element. It’s an expression of pop culture that got going in the 1950s. I find the physical process of pop art is cathartic. The graphic quality is so satisfying, along with the lovely, fresh, op-art colours. I just love it, and the ability that…

SIX OF THE BEST WHISKIES FOR BURNS NIGHT ARDBEG WEE BEASTIE 5 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY (£35, House of Malt, 47.4%vol) If you like youthfully exuberant, peaty whiskies, you will love this brand new release. HATOZAKI JAPANESE BLENDED WHISKY (£36, Ocado, 40%vol) Exceptionally stylish, delicately flavoured whisky, perfect on its own or in cocktails. THE GLENLIVET CARIBBEAN RESERVE SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY (£36, Tesco, 40%vol) Finished in old rum barrels and crammed full of joyful, spicy, tropical notes. GLENFARCLAS 15 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY (£50, Majestic, 46%vol) One of the finest and best value of all single malts, rich with intense sherry flavours. AMRUT PEATED INDIAN SINGLE MALT WHISKY (£80, Whisky Exchange, 62.8%vol) A stunning, big, bold beast of a whisky, bottled at cask strength. THE MACALLAN…

Charitable shopping is not just for Christmas. Having moved online because of coronavirus restrictions, the Dumfries Christmas Fair is keeping its virtual doors open until mid-February to raise as much money as possible for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and the Dumfries and Galloway Carers Centre. Online stallholders donate 10% of sale proceeds and the fair’s organisers are hoping that wider participation will help make up for funds that in previous years would have come from entry fees, raffles and tombolas (brilliantlittlebrands.com/dumfriesfair).…

Embrace something new How about taking up wildfowling? Granted, it can be cold and damp but it’s an exceptional sporting challenge and one of the best ways to feel at one with nature. There are hundreds of clubs across the UK: visit BASC for a directory (basc.org.uk). Cook British game It’s one of the few foods that manages to be flavoursome and healthy in equal measure. Lean and genuinely free range, venison, pheasant, partridge and pigeon lend themselves to a wide range of recipes and are especially good in warming winter pies and casseroles. Make your walls happy From George Stubbs to Rodger McPhail, Britain has a tradition of producing exceptional sporting art. Whether you prefer hunting scenes, shooting or racing, take the opportunity to spruce up your house while…

♦ EMAIL SARAH.FITZPATRICK@FUTURENET.COM CUSTOM CERAMIC JUGS OLLEY POTTERY Bespoke, hand-thrown treasures made in Kent to celebrate, commemorate or simply appreciate furry friends. Each unique piece fuses illustration and sgraffito and will take from three weeks to produce. ♦ Price from £249 ♦ olleypottery.com ANTIQUE PAISLEY WOOL DRESSING GOWN EMMA WILLIS Hand woven and hand made, with hand-rolled piping, this is a dressing gown to luxuriate in. An armour against any unpleasantness of modern existence, although you will probably have to upgrade your pyjamas, and study, to keep up with it. ♦ Price £1,300 ♦ Tel 01452 416215 ♦ emmawillis.com THE BROADSWORD BRONZE BREMONT A modern take on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ watch design issued during World War II. An official partner to the MoD, Bremont has back stamped each with all…

NDC No sooner has the sediment been reached at the bottom of the Christmas port than Janus turns his brace of faces and another year is upon us and we must look resolutely forward. I prefer to follow his retrospective gaze, through ruby-tinted spectacles, and open another bottle of Graham’s 1994. Whilst the immediate future must surely show an improvement on last year, it is always reassuring to be surrounded by the past; nowhere more so than in the sporting department. As an inveterate hoarder of all manner of vintage sporting equipment, I delight in spending the odd hour in our boot room, poring over ancient Japanned fly boxes full of gut-eyed confections mounted on titanic single hooks. As a dour gillie once told me, “they may have caught your…

Appearances can be deceptive – and no more so than in the case of the Angmering Park Shoot in West Sussex, which is set over 6,000 acres of land in the South Downs. Having driven from Arundel, where the castle sits sentinel high above the surrounding flat and rather docile land, it’s hard to see how Angmering Park has built a reputation for high birds. The approach to the shoot lodge does little to belie this view. Warmly greeted by Nigel Clutton, who took charge of the shoot 31 years ago, I ask the obvious, if somewhat impertinent, question: “Tall birds, from here?” His reply is simple: “You’ll see.” Against the warmth of the log fire in the lodge, Clutton introduces me to the shooting party for the day: Richard…

While friends chat about loft conversions and basement extensions, my Catholic mind wanders to my long-harboured fantasy of having a house with its own chapel. There’s something both indulgent and romantic about the idea of a private place of worship – preferably with one’s own resident cleric and a modest collection of relics and irreplaceable devotional objects. I can almost picture myself: mantilla artfully draped, psalter carefully perched, eyes raised to Heaven. This is unfeasible in my poky London terrace, but a girl can dream. Private chapels conjure images of stalwart devotion, often in the face of opposition, which may explain why the majority that still hold regular services are Roman Catholic. While all the great British houses had chapels, it was the Catholics who had to fight for them,…

AY VIVA TEQUILA Q This will be the third time I have asked for your help. You answered my queries perfectly on the two previous occasions and I am hoping you will be able to again. It’s cocktail time, and usually we have a houseful. The cocktails you recommended last time were simple and excellent. This year there are fewer of us, so can I bother you to suggest something refreshing and light to hit the spot? VW, Northumberland A I tried this at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire last Christmas and have been hooked ever since: the Picante de la Casa (see below). Slap a small handful of coriander between your hands and then place in the bottom of your cocktail shaker with a slice of red chilli; muddle together.…

PARQUET PANELS You will find Weldon’s bespoke and sustainably-produced floors in royal palaces and on super yachts. However, these beautiful, ‘antique oak’ parquet tiles are a ‘ready to wear’ (or walk on) option. Easy to install, they would transform any room, adding elegance and gravitas in perpetuity. Copied from 15th- and 16th-century sketches by the Italian architects Andrea Palladio (left) and Sebastiano Serlio (below left), the classical designs are timeless. Price £600 approx per tile 980mm x 980mm and ready to install Tel 01636 639800; weldon.co.uk ANTLER CANDLESTICKS AND CORONET A touch of the Scottish baronial is rarely out of place in a sporting setting. This extensive range from Clock House Furniture is made from antlers cast by red and fallow deer in Scotland. Perhaps best to avoid going the…

BEING an American, there is a telephone at my bedside, and I was awakened on the first morning of the New Year by the ringing of the bell. The familiar voice of Holland, my huntsman, came over the wire: “Good morning, sir. Happy New Year. Is it brown breeches or white, this morning, sir? It’s raining hard up here.” I looked out of the window across the flooded water meadows where the River Frome had overflowed its banks, and saw the rain coming down in sheets against the dark background of the hills. “Brown, Reg, I guess,” I answered, and went off to sleep again. And I was right, for three hours later, when hounds met at Upcerne Wood, the rain was still coming down, though not so badly, and…

TALLY HO THE REAL JOY OF SHOOTING Size doesn’t matter – or, at least, not as much as social life. According to a survey by property agent Savills, having fun with friends tops a gun’s wish list for a day’s shooting, ahead of quality of birds and hospitality. Bag size is at the bottom of the pile. CLARITY ON OLD GUNS The Government is redefining what constitutes an antique firearm, removing ambiguities that had been exploited previously by criminals. PHEASANTS V ADDERS Analysis from fact-checking resource What the Science Says has concluded that “there is no robust evidence” that pheasant releases are responsible for the decline in the UK’s adders. TUMBLERS THREAT TO BRITISH RIVERS The University of Sussex found that chemicals used in pet flea treatments are contaminating British…

Sam Carlisle, manager, the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Shooting “I’ve been the manager of the CA’s Campaign for Shooting for 18 months. The overarching goal is to secure the future of shooting, influencing public opinion and ensuring that the Government makes decisions based on science and good sense, not propaganda.” Elysian moment? “On the banks of a Scottish spate river, knowing that the water is just right and the pools are pulsing with salmon. This is all too rare an occurrence but surely nothing can match the anticipation.”…

Write to: The Editor, The Field, Pinehurst II, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF. Email: field.secretary@futurenet.com LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR CLARITY OR SPACE UNWARRANTED ACTIONS I picked up my copy of The Field from my local newsagent this morning. The first item that struck me on my initial scan was the news story on the year-long RSPB review into its gamebird shooting policy. It is time now for the Royal warrant to be removed from this ‘woke’, left-leaning organisation before the membership, many of whom have absolutely no clue about country sports and the enormous benefits they bring, damage the countryside forever. The hypocrisy of a group that has no issue with domestic cat ownership but feels it can meddle in shooting sports beggars belief. It…

Enjoy these great subscriber benefits: Subscribe online at: thefieldsubs.co.uk/jan21 Terms and Conditions: Offer closes 1 February 2021.*£20.99 payable by 6 monthly Direct Debit. This price is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of any price changes. Orders purchased as a gift before 1 December 2020 will start with the February 2021 issue published in January. All gift orders purchased after this date will begin with the first available issue. If you would like your gift subscription to start with an earlier issue please contact customer services. Orders purchased for yourself will start with the next available issue - please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery (up to 8 weeks overseas). The full subscription rate is for 12 months…

FROM hand throwers that will provide an afternoon’s entertainment to the best trap for hosting a simulated game day at home, take your pick from these Field favourites. Also, follow our advice on the best environmentally friendly clays to use, and a target that’s guaranteed to add spectacle to the proceedings. HUNTSMAN XP PROMATIC The Huntsman XP is the perfect trap for simulated game shooting for up to four guns. It includes three Super Sporter traps, with two front-linked traps that oscillate from side to side and a rear full wobble midi trap to throw random and spontaneous targets. With inbuilt flurries, any bird can be simulated, from high driven pheasants to darting grouse, partridges or duck. The Huntsman XP can throw up to 100 birds in 60 seconds, has…

Night Sky Almanac 2021 It would take a grotesque lack of imagination to fail to marvel at the stars on a clear night, at their shifting, distant mystery. Many of us will have competed with our companions to configure The Plough and Orion’s Belt, and while there are apps to aid us in our mapping, there’s something soulless about reaching for a smartphone to decipher the ancient wonders of the universe. Step forward Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion’s excellent guide. This is very much not a loo book; nor is it for children. This pocket-sized compendium is a rich mine of information for both the amateur and more experienced astronomer alike, aiming to “help people to find their way around the night sky and to understand what is visible every…