Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i The Field

Claims made by the RSPB to the media relating to its own Birdcrime report have angered many, who feel rural communities have been unfairly targeted. Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, said: “The press release issued by the RSPB is completely disingenuous and bears no relation to the data contained in their own report. The bird of prey population across the UK is at record highs and, according to the charity’s own data, the number of birds of prey disappearing in ‘confirmed incidents’ is less than 0.01%. Rather than continue to attack rural communities with sweeping generalisation, why is the charity not celebrating this success?” Gilruth continued: “If the charity has evidence of illegal activity, it should do what everyone else does: take it to the police rather…

FIRST a declaration of interest. Actually, make that a declaration of love. The South Devon village of Newton Ferrers is one of my favourite places on Earth. Even as winter sets in, I am transported – in a traffic jam – back to family summer holidays on the Yealm estuary, where night never fell, and as children we learnt to sail and fish and also discovered that grown-ups can spend an extraordinary amount of time in pubs. Claire Northmore is a director of estate agency Marchand Petit, running the Newton Ferrers office and commuting from the family farm just down the road. Back in the day, my family and I were doubtless labelled ‘grockles’ as, armed with buckets and spades and clogging the lanes, we selfishly cursed being stuck behind…

FROM CRAVEN Arms in Shropshire, where the sadly closed hotel has an iconic car park sign saying ‘Park Prettily’, a left turn takes you down the breathtaking Clun Valley to the historic small border towns of Clun and Bishop’s Castle. It was of here that the poet AE Housman wrote, in A Shropshire Lad: ‘Clunton and Clunbury,Clungunford and Clun,Are the quietest placesUnder the sun.’ The valley is also where Look Back in Anger playwright John Osborne made his final mansion home and Bruce Chatwin was inspired to write his masterwork, On the Black Hill. Little wonder then that it attracts naturalists and walkers from far and wide where they may now view red kites circling high above these ‘blue remembered hills’. Nestled within them, too, is the 2,000-acre Kempton shooting…

EARLY-RISING visitors to the Holkham estate in north Norfolk on Christmas Day might, if they were canny, spot a man out at first light feeding pheasants. This is Mark Fitzer, head gamekeeper at Holkham for the past seven years; a man devoted to his craft. “To be a good keeper you’ve got to put the pheasants first,” he says. When his charges are fed, he will head inside for breakfast, sort out his team of 15 dogs and then Christmas Day will proceed in an orderly fashion. When evening comes, he will pop back out “to make sure everything is going to sleep where it should do, and that people aren’t going where they shouldn’t on their Christmas walk”. For Fitzer, this routine is nothing new. In fact, it is…

AS WE all know, the first Christmas tractor run was Santa Claus with his nine-deer-power sleigh on 24 December. Nowadays he has swapped his reindeer for a John Deere, and you can spot him and his elves on their tractors on roads near you throughout the festive season. St Nick may have modernised his fleet but he has maintained his traditional gift-giving, with tractor runs having raised several million pounds for charity in recent years. All this is organised for Father Christmas by farmers, especially the various Young Farmers’ Clubs (YFC) all over the country, as well as vintage tractor enthusiasts and local community charity fundraisers. While nobody quite knows how it all got started, everybody agrees it began with vintage tractors and the foundation of the National Vintage Tractor…

A COMBINATION of dried fruit, animal fat, sugar, spices and pastry, the mince pie is a product that is profoundly weird but at the same time such an integral part of a British Christmas that we sometimes forget what a strange little treat it is. This month, hundreds of thousands will knead, roll, grate, zest and bake their own mince pies, possibly using a recipe handed down from generation to generation. Or, just as likely, using one from Nigella Lawson or Delia Smith searched for on the internet. Millions more, however, will pop to the shops. Because mince pies, curiously, have become a weapon in a very modern battle between supermarkets. In the cut-throat consumer economy, grocery chains pour vast resources and effort into creating the most exciting, eye-catching variety…

AEONS ago, for reasons long forgotten, I decided that I much preferred armagnac to cognac. This meant that, while there was always an acceptable bottle of grande-marque VSOP in the house, it ended up in fruit cakes or lighting the Christmas pud. It was rarely, if ever, seen in a glass. I suspect that I am like many Field readers in this, dare I say, ‘unconscious institutional bias’. Out shooting recently, I told the guns that I was writing about cognac and, as one, they chorused that they drank armagnac. However, when I enquired as to why, they became evasive about the differences. My guess is that we buy armagnac because our mates say they prefer it. And, as we then drink armagnac rather than cognac, we naturally favour it:…

THE ROYAL Armouries is not the most obvious collection to have an object with a Christmas association but believe it or not it has at least one: a so-called ‘Lorenzoni’-type repeating flintlock pistol. The Lorenzoni is a remarkable example of 1660s technology featuring a vertically rotating drum that collected powder and ball from magazines in the butt as it was rotated via a large lever on the side of the weapon. Its lever also cocked the gun, primed and closed the pan, making it akin to the celebrated Winchester rifle of the 1860s. Lorenzoni-pattern arms remained in limited production by a variety of makers until the early 19th century when this one was made by HW Mortimer (1753-1819), who became Gunmaker-in-Ordinary to King George III in 1783. Based on the…

THIS MONTH’S test explores the new 20-bore Blaser F16 Game. Our specimen – weighing 7lb 6oz – has 30in barrels and fleur-de-lys steel proof for 3in chambers. The single selective trigger is mechanical with a selector positioned forward of the trigger-blade (as on the Blaser F3). The ventilated sighting rib is tapered (9mm-7mm) with a small, well-proportioned metal bead sitting at the muzzle end. Joining ribs are solid and extend the full length of the hammer-forged, chrome-lined barrels. First impressions are of a quite severely styled but elegant modern gun. Its dark grey nitrided action has no decoration save for contrasting black hinge caps and a small ‘F16’ logo. This will appeal to those favouring less ornamentation on machine made guns. The action is semi-rounded on its base with flat…

A LITTLE like the late Queen Mother, when the Hon Deborah Mitford married Lord Andrew Cavendish in 1941 she could not have foreseen that her husband would, quite unexpectedly, find himself with the ‘top job’. However, on becoming Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah made every use of her agile brain and astute business sense to set about the renovation and revival of Chatsworth, including in 1977 establishing its now acclaimed and multiple award-winning farm shop. Nearly five decades on the Chatsworth Farm Shop both serves its local community and welcomes visitors from much farther afield, attracted by the history of Chatsworth House, the splendour of the artwork and fabulous grounds, and, of course, its famous alter ego as Mr Darcy’s Pemberley. All who walk through the farm shop’s doors will find…

COME THE build-up to Christmas and our flora and fauna are once again purloined by biscuit pushers and shortbread salesmen keen to engender warming and merry festive feelings. One is hard-pressed to find a tin without a winsome-looking stag posed picturesquely in the snow. And they have a point: there is something indelible that binds the birds and the beasts of the field to a Merrie Olde England where snow always fell at Christmas; cue wassailing and yule logs burned with abandon. The countryside resonates all the more deeply during midwinter when vibrant game shows joyfully against barren branches, much like Tunnicliffe’s Falstaffian pheasant perched on our front cover. As the landscape hunkers down it is the flash of the gamebird’s feather, the telltale tracks one finds in frosted grass…

Friends Edward Mortimer, Freddie McBain, Christopher Moorland and William Prince have raised more than £13,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund by running from London to Paris. “We are all huge racegoers and were looking for a running challenge, so the idea of going from London to Longchamp, in time for the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe, really appealed,” said McBain. After several months of planning, the team started at five o’clock on a September morning outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and, running in relays, arrived four days later at Longchamp. For more information or to make a donation, visit: justgiving.com/page/londontolongchamp Find us on social media Instagram: @thefieldmagazine Facebook: The Field Magazine Twitter: The Field Mag Subscribe to our exclusive newsletter Scan the QR code with your phone…

Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford Organic, has teamed up with Jimmy Doherty and other British farmers to launch a new campaign: Farmers Against Farmwashing. It aims to expose the misleading and overuse of farm brands and the Union flag. An open letter, signed by 100 prominent figures and industry bodies, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the Soil Association and 11 MPs, has been sent to the chief executives of the nation’s ‘big six’ supermarkets to call for them to end so-called ‘farmwashing’ and honour the promises they use in publicity to support British farmers. The campaign group assets that only 25% of such supermarket claims are credible and backed up by their buying practices. Doherty said: “Britain’s small-scale farmers are facing extinction, pushed to the brink by US-style mega-farms. We’re seeing generations…

NDC I KNOW that Christmas is on its way when my inbox begins to fill up with enticements from the sundry purveyors of pleasure I have bought from previously. This year I was sorely tempted by the latest offerings from my favourite art dealer: the Rountree Tryon Gallery. What particularly caught my eye, aside from a marvellous flush of Munnings, were a couple of paintings of barnacle geese by the master of wildfowl, Sir Peter Scott. So then, Christmas is most definitely coming and the goose is getting fat. The poor old barnacle goose was considered the premier table bird as far back as the eighth century when the Rule of St Benedict forbade the eating of flesh or fowl on fast days but excluded the barnacle goose as it…

MUCH HAS been written about the joys of fishing. There is, after all, a great deal to love. The divine scenery that so often surrounds a river; the peacefulness of it all, punctuated and broken only by the sound of moving water (or, every once in a while, the groan of a missed chance); and then the thrill of hooking and landing a fish. One of my favourite feelings in fishing is in the early evening, returning to my digs, opening up a beer and finally letting my weary legs rest. But where I fish on the Beauly, near Inverness, I rarely get to enjoy that end-of-day drink because something lurks over my friends and me: a carving of a 42-pound salmon mounted above the fireplace in the lodge. It…

IF YOU haven’t already been steaming over the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, then it is time to don your diamonds, pack your Louis Vuitton luggage and head away from mythical Rutshire to the very real and beautiful Engadin valley. And darlings, only a private jet will do as your transport. For it is the Snow Polo World Cup during the last weekend in January and this already supremely glamorous international event is celebrating its 40th anniversary come 2025 with knobs, bells, caviar, Perrier-Jouët champagne and fur coats on. “Before me, nobody had ever done it,” says Swiss hotelier and snow polo founder Reto Gaudenzi, referring to the sport, which isn’t that surprising given that to most people the idea of playing polo, let alone founding a high-goal tournament…

A FONDNESS for cheese is so deeply rooted in the collective British consciousness that people bold enough to assert indifference are often met with disbelief, yet few will give much thought to the individuals responsible for making the wealth of cheeses that this country is lucky enough to enjoy. However, those inclined to explore will discover that many of the industry’s leading figures, throughout history and into the modern era, have been women. The earliest evidence of dairy processing in Britain dates to around 3,800BC. This will have been a simple, soft, fresh cheese; very accessible to the modern palate, as a similar style continues to be produced today. However, the cheeses most consider the British classics are a relatively modern development. Through the Middle Ages and beyond, monasteries were…

THE BEST art conceals its process. In the case of Jasper Leadbeater’s painstaking shotgun shell work that’s perhaps just as well, otherwise it would take a viewer several weeks to appreciate his pheasants or grouse streaming across a canvas composed of the brass caps of spent cartridges. Its impact is deceptively contemporary and instant, with a modern urban art feel. Leadbeater reveals that he has been influenced by street artists such as the exciting French mosaicist Invader. “He uses tiles and creates these Space Invaders-type images, but as a teenager it was Banksy I really followed,” he says. “I tried copying his Girl with Flowers. I remember doing a plaster cast of my hand that I then wrote graffiti on using Sharpies.” Banksywould approve. Communication guru Marshall McLuhan’s maxim ‘The…

DOGS ARE remarkable animals: they will live, and even thrive, on the most unlikely of diets. Vegetarian food for dogs has been around for years and now vegan food is gaining in popularity (although not, I suspect, among readers of The Field). Dogs are not great ones for complaining and most will eat what you give them, regardless of what it is. Many dogs, and particularly labradors, seem to be permanently hungry. A friend’s labrador bitch that stays frequently in the Tomlinson household has taken to raiding my vegetable patch, chomping up my lettuces. Perhaps she would like to be a vegan dog. Wolves, from which all dogs descend, are among the most omnivorous of creatures. According to the Mammals of Britain & Europe (Collins Field Guide), wolves are ‘opportunistic,…

AS RELAXING stays go, getting up at 5am in the dark to wave the husband off on a Macnab attempt (bid for vigorously after too good a lunch at the Countryside Alliance raceday last November, and presented as a thoughtful Christmas gift) is not how I might have started my day. It’s not often I forswear the hill but I feared a fluffed shot at the grouse or miscast at the salmon might hamper marital harmony, as passing useful observations and encouragement is de rigueur among those couples who sport together. Much better to let the gillie make a suggestion about casting technique, I surmised. And so, as the Macnabber headed into the start of Storm Ashley, I spent our first dawn at Gleneagles sodden, semi-sheltering under dripping trees as…

New hope for red-list species Black grouse are being translocated from the North Pennines, a stronghold for this red-list species, to the North York Moors in a new project undertaken by the GWCT. It is nearly 200 years since the black grouse bred in this location but it is hoped they will recolonise the area. Although they are also found in parts of County Durham and Northumberland, the North York Moors were chosen because of recent landscape-scale habitat improvements. Birds will be caught at night and immediately transported to a specially selected site, all done under licence from Natural England. Some will be equipped with transmitters to allow researchers to follow their settlement patterns, lekking behaviour and survival rates. Dr Philip Warren, who is leading the initiative for the GWCT,…

THIS SCOTTISH estate includes a seven-bedroom Z-plan castle steeped in history, together with 886 acres and a focus on natural capital uplift. The vendor, Highlands Rewilding, is seeking a buyer with a vision to rewild at scale and increase biodiversity and carbon sequestration, regenerate grasslands, expand wetland areas and grow woodland. The eastern edge of the estate is bordered by the River Deveron, renowned for its Atlantic salmon, sea-trout and brown trout. As well as the restored 16th-century tower house, the sale contains several other properties, including derelict crofts with scope for residential development subject to planning. The preferred buyer would be willing to enter into a long-term agreement to allow Highlands Rewilding to continue managing the land. Agent: Strutt & Parker ♦ Tel: 07734 545972 ♦ Guide price: offers…

MY FIRST day with the Warwickshire came to pass in a rather roundabout sort of way. It is down to Victoria Gailly de Taurines who, despite her name, is of fellow Hibernian stock. Her ancestral home, Shankill Castle, is a mere 20 minutes from mine in Ireland. However, Victoria and I met not in Ireland but in Britain, as she grew up in Grafton country where her grandmother, Ann Fisher, was hunt secretary and her grandfather, Ian, treasurer for several decades. Flash forward a few years, and Victoria and her French husband Christophe extended an invitation to their Meet at Newbold Pacey Hall where these bon vivants delivered in spades. Had it not been for a disastrous flood in 2022, the Gailly de Taurines’ house party would have been billeted…

IT IS, perhaps, the most disappointing two hours of my life. I am sitting in a cafe in Bedlington, the old Northumberland mining town after which the eponymous terrier and scourge of the rat community is named. While the full English is excellent, I am actually waiting for what could easily be mistaken for a lamb on a lead to walk in. Or walk past. Even one disappearing round a distant corner would be enough. But no, not today. For the ardent Bedlington terrier groupie this is like Michaela Strachan going to Puffin Island and finding out it is the one day the puffins are all at sea. The place to which I have made this particular pilgrimage and that even boasts a many times life-size cut-out of the terrier’s…

I’M STANDING in the cavernous saleroom of John Nicholson’s, a few miles south of Haslemere, West Sussex. It is auction day and, as is so typical of a provincial auction room having a ‘general’ sale, there’s stuff on tables everywhere: tons of it. At the notional ‘front’ of the room is an auctioneer on a rostrum. There is a camera in front of him, recording him, a computer open beside him, which he keeps glancing at and, doubtless, hundreds, if not thousands, of potential buyers watching him online from all over the world. Bang! Down goes the gavel; another lot sold online. And it is online, because I am literally the only non-staff person here. Apparently, another bidder had been in earlier. He had first carefully inspected, and then hoovered…

EARLY ONE evening in late July I found a struggling stag beetle in a bowl that had filled up with water, on an apron in front of our open woodshed. I was so excited that I photographed it in my hand, then carefully carried it to the nearest of our covered outdoor woodpiles, which consist of seasoning ash logs, and laid it down gently beside it. An hour later it had disappeared into the log pile, seemingly none the worse for its ducking. I sent the picture to the website of the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (ptes.org) as part of its Great Stag Hunt, only to discover that the greater stag beetle does not come as far north as east Northamptonshire, where I live. Its preferred county appears to…

Across 7 Ivy’s partner at this time of year? (5) 9 Welsh salmon/sea-trout river… in spate if inclement (5) 10 Term for your spot when standing in the line (3) 12 Smelly, essential Christmas cheeseboard item? (7) 13 ___ Mountains, Northern Ireland: home to sika deer (7) 14 Honour awarded to Clare Balding for services to sport and charity (1,1,1) 15 Bird at the heart of Christmas celebrations – but not for the table! (5) 17 Cornish river and desert transport (5) 19 Ridge between horse’s shoulder blades… shrinks and shrivels (7) 21 Notts market town, ‘Gateway to the Dukeries’ (7) 22 A ___ plant is one that protects a seedling or young plant (5) 23 A fitment for Browning Invector Plus choke – possessor of golden touch? (5) 25…

IN THE past the title of this article would have quite possibly suggested ice skating and sleighing, with some ardent gunners a chance of wildfowl shooting on frozen marshland; but, truth to tell, the seasons have so greatly changed that snow and frost at the end of December are of very rare occurrence, and nowadays, in nine years out of 10, all the usual English winter sports can be carried out at Christmas time. It is more probable that many of the present generation of boys have never known what is usually called an ‘old-fashioned Christmas’, the Christmas such as Dickens wrote of, when snow was lying thick on the ground, when almost every sheet of water afforded skating on Boxing Day, and when all the amusement arrangements for the…