Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i The Field

CHANGE is marching on the sporting field. The biggest general upheaval that the shooting world has had to contend with since breech-loading will come into play over the next year, four years before the end of the five-year voluntary transition away from lead shot (announced by the shooting organisations in February 2020). In March, the National Game Dealers Association (NGDA) announced that from July 2022 its members will no longer accept game shot with lead, a statement that took many by surprise given that a voluntary framework was already in place. How much of the game market the NGDA represents is not immediately clear, but its statement will certainly accelerate the pace of change on the sporting field and pose some real challenges for shoots and Guns next season as…

GO WESTIE A picture of West Highland white terriers, first bred by Colonel Malcolm of Poltalloch, proved a sensation among Instagram’s Westie fans, with one Fielder commenting: “We loved our Westie–lots of sass and vinegar, and smart as a whip,” while another added: “A vicious vanguard of immortals, I’d hate to see them cresting a hill coming after me.” TOP TIPPLES A question about favourite shootday drinks sparked a barrage of imaginative answers that ranged from “a demi-sec” to “Yellow Chartreuse” and even “beef consommé with lashings of vodka and chilli”. However, sloe gin proved to be by far the most popular tipple, either neat or, more often, with champagne in the aptly-named Sloegasm cocktail – although one gentleman noted that he may prefer “sloe gin and champers, but [would]…

FISHERY HOUSE NEWBIE, ANNAN, DUMFRIESSHIRE This modern property is set on the coast with views across the Solway Firth. There are plenty of open living spaces, as well as leisure facilities, including a cinema, gym and sauna. There is direct access from the garden down to the shore, and to the back of the property is a raised decking area for outdoor entertaining. Newbie is close to the confluence of the River Annan with the Solway Firth. Agent: Finest Properties Tel: 01434 622234 Guide price: £585,000 ARISAIG HOUSE ARISAIG, INVERNESS-SHIRE This Highlands country house, once a hotel, has 14 bedrooms, as well as four flats to let and courtyard outbuildings with a clock tower. Dating from 1864, it was originally built as a shooting lodge. There are further properties, together…

Ever since the first gun was made, man tried over the centuries to make it into a multi-shot weapon. Many ingenious methods were tried but it was not until the Colt Paterson revolver was patented in 1836 that a practical and easily manufactured solution was found: the muzzle-loading revolver. The operation of muzzle-loading revolvers made in the USA (where they are known as cap and ball) is simple. Powder and ball are loaded into the chambers and then the percussion cap put in place. To fire takes two actions: the first is to pull the hammer fully back, which rotates the chamber, bringing the charge into line with the barrel; the second is to pull the trigger to release the hammer and fire the cap. This is why they are…

Somewhere in the world there must hang on a wall of a much-blessed house Lionel Edwards’ magnificent 1925 painting of Ernest Bawden laying the Devon & Somerset Staghounds onto the line of an autumn stag on Exmoor. The huntsman is depicted – in the artist’s classic style – as centaur-like deep in the saddle, with the bowler-hatted harbourer close by and the Master, Colonel Wiggin, on the opposite flank. Behind him a huge field is strung out for a mile or more beneath picturesque Cloutsham Ball, but the painting belongs to some 20 couple of hounds, heads down, sterns up, streaming into the centre of the canvas. Were their followers alive today, I wonder what they would think of crossing the same moorland landscape behind just two hounds for, nearly…

It’s 6am, and former point-to-pointer Trooper Lois O’Hara is down in The Life Guards stables at Hyde Park Barracks mucking out. With 250 horses to feed, groom and exercise, there’s a lot to do. By lunchtime, she’ll have ridden three times – first on one of the Household Cavalry’s fully-trained horses, before exercising two of the regiment’s young horses, the ‘remounts’, those that are waiting to show the world just how magnificently they can behave on parade. After 12 years working in racing, she joined the Army in 2019, as the second female soldier in the regiment’s 361-year history. “I can’t seem to get away from horses,” she laughs. The past year has been a strange one for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR). Usually, the soldiers and horses work…

NANJIZAL, CORNWALL There are few secluded spots in Cornwall but Diccon Rogers and his fiancée, Amy Hambly-Symons, who are locals, rhapsodise about Nanjizal Beach, which is inaccessible by car and can only be reached by a long walk through fields. “In the furthest reaches of West Cornwall, where the land ends, the light and the sea blend into an intensity not found in England. And there is Nanjizal, the Bay of the Low Valley in the old Cornish language. The columns of the hard Penwith granite stretch vertically from the sea, two great cliffs surrounding an embayment that, like all of the Cornish coast, has many faces and many voices. In the long summer days, the white-gold granitic sand accretes over the rounded boulders and the Atlantic swell loops lazily…

PRIME OAK OUTBUILDINGS Whether you are adding a graceful orangery or a useful stable/kennel combination, Prime Oak has designers and planning consultants to make sure its organic structures take shape seamlessly. Ideal for town or country living, all the firm’s buildings come with a 10-year structural warranty. Traditional orangery (Maskrey) with bifold doors, 5m x 4m, £44,000 excl VAT; garage complex with accommodation above (Weller), 13m x 22.5m, £125,000 excl VAT. Tel 01384 296611 Email info@primeoak.co.uk primeoak.co.uk Colour chart FENWICK & TILB ROOK BLAKENEY POINT From a range inspired by our shoreline and heathland colours, think Norfolk seal pup rather than glowering sky. £25 for 1 litre pure matt emulsion Tel 01362 684125 fenwickandtilbrook.com FB DESIGN GUN ROOM FURNITURE David Forrest of FB Design is a Yorkshireman living in Hampshire,…

GROWING up in Guernsey we always had ponies but hunting was limited to the annual Boxing Day and New Year’s Day meets. My earliest hunting memory was on my Shetland pony, Pickles. I was on the lead rein, Pickles trod on Mummy’s toe and we had to go home. I cried all the way, and from that day I have never been one to want to leave a day’s hunting – or a party, for that matter – before the end. My mother and father moved to Guernsey in 1973 after my father [Tim Hollowell] gave up his flat training career, which had taken him to Newmarket, Lambourn and the Curragh. Previously to that my mother [Julia Hollowell, née Wilcox], who sadly passed away in 1983 when I was four,…

SSAFA, the charity that supports members of the military community, is marking Armed Forces Day on Saturday, 26 June, with a special challenge: participants will walk for 10 miles along a route that takes in 13 London bridges, starting at Tower Bridge and ending at Eel Brook Common, after crossing Putney Bridge. Suitable for beginners, the event has only one requirement: participants must raise £50 per person to help soldiers, sailors, air personnel and their families. Details at: ssafa.org.uk…

A RIGHT ROYAL VISIT Buckingham Palace will open its garden gates to the public in July with a self-guided route that will take visitors across some of the grounds’ most magnificent views, from the 156-metre Herbaceous Border to the 3½-acre lake and its beehive-peppered island. There will also be an opportunity to enjoy a picnic on one of the lawns and explore other areas, such as the Rose Garden, with a guided tour. Tickets cost £16.50 adults, £9 to £15 concessions; pre-booking essential at rct.uk PAY YOUR RESPECTS The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire is marking its 20th anniversary with a new Remembrance Sculpture project. According to a spokesman, it is “envisaged as an intimate, natural place where people can remember lives lost, celebrate lives lived and recognise an individual…

ASCOT plays host to the highlight of the Flat season, staging Britain’s most valuable five days of unparalleled equine brilliance – The Royal Meeting. The eight Group 1s, coupled with the cool £6m in prize money across the five days, means that Royal Ascot consistently draws some of the world’s biggest names to the track. It all started in 1711, when an increasingly ill Queen Anne was travelling towards Windsor in her carriage. An avid racing fan, she spotted a clearing in the forest and demanded that it be bought for the purpose of racing horses. There began Ascot Racecourse. The first event at the track was called Her Majesty’s Plate and took place on 11 August that year. It was worth 100 guineas to the winner and owners could…

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh was patron of more than 800 organisations, making his particular commitment to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) all the more remarkable. His involvement first as president then patron spanned half a century, reflecting a lifelong passion for conservation. Ahead of his time, he saw the risk to wildlife from the evolution of agriculture and urban encroachment on the countryside. In the foreword to the 1970 review of what was then The Game Conservancy, he wrote, “Changes in the way land is used are so rapid in these days that it is essential to keep a close watch for any signs that game and wildlife in general are suffering. The sooner these signs are detected the sooner solutions and remedies can be worked out…

That coppery sheen is striking. The conformation of the reds is traditional. The look of the labrador is distinctive and the fox-red has it in spades When I was really quite little – long, long ago – I recall meeting a number of yellow labradors. There was Honey and Treacle and there might have been one called Fudge, too. Those names suggest to me now that they were probably at the richer end of the yellow spectrum. It is also true, come to think of it, that yellow labradors were often referred to as ‘golden’ then, which may have been technically inaccurate but was perhaps a better description of their colour than yellow. The Kennel Club formally acknowledges only three colours: black, yellow and liver – which has mutated to…

Over the years, I have encountered a few people who shoot game yet maintain that they don’t like the taste of it. For most, however, I suspect that there can be few finer pleasures in life than consuming the results of the chase. Whether this be fish, fur or fowl, it is an excuse to enjoy a good wine (if any were needed) and to reflect and recall the occasion. It seems likely that it was ever thus, given the plethora of recipes that have come to us down the centuries. Our forebears seem to have been prepared to eat a far greater range of foods than we are. Where, for example, in England are cocks’ combs used today? In The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse…

First things first: I loathe the term ‘wild’ swimming, unless one is talking about crossing maelstroms or swimming the Hellespont like The Wild Swimming Brothers (called after their mother’s maiden name rather than after their preponderance for swimming in nature). By the same logic, going for a jog in the park should be called ‘wild’ running, as it doesn’t take place on a running track, and a walk across the fields should be a ‘wild’ walk. Wild swimming can sound pretentious and exclusive – like there’s a sort of ultra-swimmers’ club out there, for the members of which a trip to the local swimming pool was just never quite enough. “It turns on its head what swimming should be about,” notes criminal barrister and enthusiastic swimmer Maximilian Hardy. “It’s for…

‘FLYING CHILDE RS’ WITH JOCKEY UP After James Seymour (1702-52) FLYING CHILDERS was the first great racehorse to be trained on Newmarket Heath, but his fame has puzzled later generations because he only had two races. However, he seemed so good that two special trials were arranged to assess his true superiority. In one, he defeated the unbeaten champion Fox by 350 yards; in the other, he covered the Round Course at Newmarket in six minutes and 40 seconds. That represents a speed of 33.6mph – even today the median time for Ascot Gold Cup winners is only marginally better at 33.9mph, although the course is more than 10 furlongs shorter. His fame was such that paintings and prints of him by or after James Seymour, John Wootton and their…

FIREARMS were not only practical pieces of equipment for use in war or sport but in the 18th or 19th century they were often used as presentation pieces to memorialise either a person, place or event. This revolver, held in the collections of the Royal Armouries, is just such an item. The revolver was made by William Tranter, and was his 4th Model of 1856. It is a 54-bore (.442in) five-shot percussion revolver made in Birmingham and retailed by the firm of Wilkinson & Son of Pall Mall, London. It is lightly engraved with floral decoration and as it is a presentation piece, it is also engraved on the octagonal barrel: ‘GW Rivaz. Presented by the Directors of the Blackheath Proprietary School. June. “Honoris Causa” 1868.’ George Wilmot Rivaz was…

THIS month’s test looks at a William Powell 30in-barrelled, 16-bore, Sovereign side-by-side. It looks like a sidelock at first glance but is, in fact, a side-plated gun built on a modern trigger-plate action. First impressions are positive. The proportions of the Sovereign – made in association with Battista Rizzini, the wellknown Brescian maker – are elegant. The action shaping, in particular, impresses. The wood is well figured and the lasercut, inked, medium acanthus leaf scroll engraving is pleasing to the eye. The gun has good shaping at its fences and the beading is well done on the belly – evidence of old-school expertise still going into its manufacture (which is primarily by computer-controlled machinery with hand finishing and regulation). The specification ticks the boxes. Thirty-inch barrels suit (there are other…

I HAVE mixed emotions about broad beans and certainly wasn’t always delighted to see the first basketful of the year. As a child, I disliked them immensely and always made sure the family dog was quietly sat at my feet to help me through the mountain on my plate. Then, when moved to London and started work as a chef at The River Café I remember how the excitement buzzed through the team when the first wooden crates of broad beans and peas arrived at the door. Along with artichokes, asparagus and soft fruits the kitchen suddenly felt in full seasonal mode with summer food swiftly promising to make an appearance. Then there was the time I ran a café on Mudchute city farm and one of the young actors…

Conservationists are calling for urgent measures to tackle the decline of British waterways. “The picture is very poor, with six out of seven rivers failing to meet standards of good ecological health,” says Mark Lloyd of the Rivers Trust. The biggest threat rivers face is pollution, “both from agriculture and the recently publicised overflows from our sewer networks in towns”. Over-abstraction – when too much water is taken away from waterways – and barriers that make it hard for fish to move compound the problem. Chronic pollution can have significant consequences for fish. “Our angler members have witnessed a gradual increase in the frequency, severity and duration of algal blooms on the Wye [pictured], which affect plant and insect life and, ultimately, fish,” says Penelope Gane of Fish Legal, which,…

Government proposals to improve rural connectivity have been met with a mixed reception, with some countryside campaigners welcoming the prospect of better coverage, while others fear a telecoms landgrab. Proposed changes to the law would allow operators to build masts up to 30 metres high in unprotected rural areas. Networks would also be able to extend existing towers to 25 metres without prior approval, and erect new ‘monopole’ masts up to 15 metres high by merely notifying local authorities rather than applying for full planning consent (although stricter rules would protect National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites). The CLA and the Countryside Alliance welcomed the plans as a positive step towards better rural connectivity. But some landowners who host digital infrastructure are concerned that these…

This is an opportunity to purchase a Cumbrian driven grouse moor and profitable hill farm, stretching to 4,215 acres. Priorsdale Moor forms part of the larger Weardale Estate. With a 10-year average of 665 brace of grouse and shot once a week, the moor gives six to eight days per season. There is also a 10-year option on the adjoining Sallygrain Moor with a 10-year average of 622 brace. In addition, there is a low-ground shoot. The estate comes with 130 acres of woodland and some old commercial forestry ground has been restored to heather moorland. Priorsdale and Ashgill Farms are farmed in hand and extend to 3,651 acres. The estate has three properties, including a farmhouse with permission to convert into a nine-bedroom shooting lodge. Agent: CKD Property Advisers…

Pigeon shooting, in shirt sleeves, in the summer is a chance to get out with the gun in the otherwise doldrum period between game seasons. There are always opportunities for clay shooting, either on charity shoots, simulated game days or just a visit to a shooting ground with a friend to keep your eye in. These can all be fun and good practice but do not compare with the excitement of shooting live quarry – and no live quarry, in my experience, compares with the challenge of shooting woodpigeons. This is a truly wild bird that demands many skills to make a bag. The heart of the hunter is fully exercised by reconnaissance, fieldcraft and a shooting experience to test the best. This bird can fly higher than any pheasant,…

EARL PERCY, PRESIDENT OF THE ATLANTIC SALMON TRUST Biggest salmon: A 43-pounder from the Alta in Norway in July 2005. I can remember every second of the hour I played that fish. It is a memory that seems to be as clear in my mind today as it was the day afterward. And I got to share that moment with my father, which was very special. Favourite salmon fly: The Editor (created in 1997 by Sandy Leventon, then editor of Trout & Salmon), a fly that seems to have lost its popularity a bit in recent years. I have confidence in it, which, I guess, is partly why I’ve had a lot of success with it. Top salmon fishing tip: This is a difficult one, as I don’t want to…

NO bird symbolises high summer more than the swift: the flocks that race like hooligans through our towns and villages on July evenings, screaming ecstatically, capture the very essence of the season. Once known as devil birds, swifts have always been creatures of mystery, appearing suddenly in early May and departing equally abruptly in August. Nobody knew where they came from nor where they went to. The naturalist Gilbert White thought that they hibernated, but Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the man who invented vaccination, was the first to suggest that they migrated. Jenner marked several swifts by capturing them at their nests and cutting out their toes; he discovered that his marked bird returned to the same nest sites in subsequent years. However, his most compelling argument for migration was the…

Send queries to Rosie Macdonald, Country Queries Editor, The Field, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. Email: country-queries@hectareshouse.co.uk For more, go to: thefield.co.uk SCRATCHES ON THE SURFACE Q I have recently come across my grandfather’s dress sword – he was commissioned in the late 1800s. At some point someone has tried to remove rust from the hand guard, which has resulted in a scratched surface. I should like to get the guard polished so that it is back to its original condition. Can you recommend someone? JM, by email A Late Victorian hand guards were often plated, with loss or wear of this plating leading to rust developing on the surface. The sword can be dismantled and the guard repolished to remove the scratches to the surface and, if necessary,…

AS we emerge from the longest period of national grimness since the threeday week, how better to celebrate than plunge into the art of Elie Lambert, who says: “There is not much philosophy in my work. I just capture a moment of intense happiness to be alive, surrounded by the generous nature of our racecourses, stud farms, and the beauty of a horse.” To those thirsty for the sparkle of racing, Lambert’s work is a refreshing reminder of the fizz of the track. Cresty-necked thoroughbreds in bright bay, chestnut, black and grey stride across uncompromisingly emerald turf, accompanied by tribes of spindly yet elegant jockeys. The racecourses are instantly recognisable: umbrella pines at Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Riviera; the famous red double-decker at Epsom on Derby Day; the grandstand at Chantilly.…

FERRARI makes beautiful cars, combining great appearance with stunning performance. However, there is one notable exception: its Formula 1 car. For ultimate performance looks have to be sacrificed. I sometimes wonder whether we are guilty of a similar approach with our gundogs. All our breeds of gundogs, without exception, are handsome dogs but the ultimate performance dogs – those that compete in trials – are often far from good looking. Whether it be snipey-nosed labradors or all-white springers with just one brown ear, trialling dogs rarely conform to the breed standard, or anything like it. As long as a dog is Kennel Club registered and the correct breed it can compete in a trial. Field trial judges are there to consider the dog’s performance, not its appearance. They might look…

IF you like your Mercedes SUVs to be sleek and elegant, you’ll be in for a shock when you see the GLB. It looks like the result of some bizarre cross-breeding experiment involving the Jeep Compass and the new Jimny, with some aged Fiat Panda DNA drifting into the lab through an open window. Were it not for the huge, undignified badge on the grille, you might struggle to name the manufacturer. Having said all that, its boxy design ends up being very practical. You have a great seating position, a good view out (narrower-than-normal pillars) and loads of internal space. The third row of seats seemed a tad optimistic, but they’re probably only meant for small people. They also gobble up much boot space. MERCEDES-BENZ GLB 220D 4MATIC ♦…