Table of contents for October 2023 in The Field

THE URGENT need for effective predation management alongside habitat provision to save threatened wild birds from extinction has prompted a GWCT Think Piece. Why effective predation management is necessary, ethical and sustainable is the first in a series designed to summarise decades of research, help explain complex issues and engender a progressive discussion with the aim of developing more consensus around an evidence-led national policy. The GWCT has been flagging up the impact of predation pressure for years, but the warnings have been largely ignored. Consequently, numbers continue to decline. Curlew could die out in Wales by 2030; capercaillie are now down to 304 individuals in Scotland; and lapwing, skylark and stone curlew remain red-listed. The organisation’s position on predation management is based on science. The Think Piece references more…

STAR BUY This estate on the Salcombe Estuary includes a renovated house on a private peninsular with no public access, together with just under 10 acres of land, making up lot one. There are a further seven cottages, farm buildings and 193 acres available by separate negotiation. Records show a dwelling on the Gullet site since 1632 and the original walled garden now encloses a swimming pool. Stone for the Artsand-Crafts-style 10-bedroom property was quarried locally, with Cotswold stone used for the roof. The house has oak panelling, exposed beams, parquet floors and open fireplaces. The formal gardens lead up a valley, with terraced areas, paths and lawns and include lily ponds, a rose garden and a croquet lawn. There is also a pool house and a boathouse with a…

NDC I was fortunate to have an enlightened teacher at prep school who encouraged us to engage with nature. Being utterly hopeless in most academic arenas, the option of keeping a bird-table diary (like a game book, but less terminal) and being asked to bring in recently expired specimens to be examined on the ‘nature table’ were my salvation. I’ll never forget the excitement of her handing me a freshly roadkilled tawny owl to practise my schoolboy taxidermy. The end product was not a success but it taught me much about the physiology of a creature I’d only seen fleetingly when mobbed by small birds and which I considered to be enormously exotic. One of this teacher’s great passions was fungi, or ‘flowerless plants’ as we were instructed to call…

It’s a happy team of guns that leaves the moor having enjoyed a classic driven grouse day imbued with the camaraderie of close friends, kind weather, a dedicated team of shoot helpers and such a good show of wild birds FOLLOWING the narrow road above Balderhead Reservoir towards the heart of Cotherstone Moor reminds me of Talking Heads’ 1980s single Road to Nowhere, but then I pull into an isolated farmyard and discover rows of parked vehicles together with a swarm of beaters, keepers and picker uppers preparing for an autumn driven grouse day. There are 33 different members of shoot staff one way or another, which is testament to the economic benefits generated by grouse moors in the remoter parts of Britain – and that’s without taking into account…

THE FIRST bill to ban hunting with dogs was put before Parliament in 1948. For 56 years groups of fixated MPs pursued their quarry relentlessly and finally, in 2004, the infamous Hunting Act was passed. The stubborn and brilliant defence carried out by the Countryside Alliance and its predecessor the British Field Sports Society (BFSS), not forgetting the hunting community as a whole for half a century, did not stop when the new law came into force. Despite all the difficulties presented by the Act, not to mention the additional challenges of operating any pack of hounds in our shrinking and increasingly crowded countryside, hunts refused to fold and found a way of operating under the new law. This created a real problem for the animal-rights movement and the political…

YOU MAY have noticed more and more pockets of beautifully laid hedges as you travel the countryside. Hedgelaying is back or, at least, we are seeing some shoots of revival of this ancient craft. Earlier this year, I achieved a long-held ambition to have a section of hedge laid. It was only about 50 yards – or two and a half chains, a measurement I last encountered as an estate management student at the Royal Agricultural College in the early 1980s – ostensibly to let light into my kitchen garden but also to do a small bit for wildlife. With a bit more education, I hope to do the next section myself but this was done in Midland style by David Jupe, a local gardener who was taught as a…

CHILL Deep-freezing infested items kills eggs, larvae and moths. Place items in plastic bags at -18°C for at least two weeks, advises English Heritage. And go slow and leave to thaw gradually, says Will Murray of the Scottish Conservation Studio, because it’s easy to damage rigid, frozen items. Larger items will need treatment in specialist freezers. CLEAN Moth larvae can’t survive in temperatures over 55°C, so you can use a hot wash – unless dealing with cashmere and other items that need a delicate cycle at 30°C. Dry-cleaning kills moths, eggs and larvae without damaging delicate fibres. CONFUSE Pheromone traps lure males to what they think is a female but turns out to be a sticky demise. Lavender and cedar have been used for centuries to ward off moths, and…

LAST month, I was walking by a local fishing lake when I was amused to see a carp fisherman struggling to wheel his equipment along the path. I was tempted to ask him whether he really needed so much kit but he was clearly keen to get fishing, so I didn’t delay him. Modern carp fishermen need (or think that they need) an awful lot of gear to catch a fish. It set me thinking about how much kit the successful gundog handler requires, apart from the dog itself. Over the years, I’ve tried, tested (and discarded) an awful lot of stuff, so here’s my view of what you really need, what you might like, and what you and your dog, or dogs, can live without. Housing for the dog…

THE SWORD has always been an object of status, both on the battlefield and for the hunt. During the 16th century the sword came to form an essential part of noble dress, and complex hilts of the period gave craftsmen greater opportunity to apply their skills and reflect the status of the sword’s owners than on the simple cruciform hilts that had dominated for the previous centuries. The period saw a flourishing of different hilt forms, some of which were regionally distinct. This sword’s straight quillons of flattened triangular section flaring into spatulate form are of Saxon type, which feature prominently in the collection of the armoury at Dresden in Germany, where this sword originally resided. The electoral Saxon armoury of Augustus I (reigned 1553-86), Christian I (1586-91) and Christian…

THE AYRSHIRE coast is not an obvious pit stop when heading north. Once past Carlisle you must make a definitive left turn and drive for another couple of hours until the sea hoves into view. But that is what gives Turnberry an edge over other similar establishments: when you arrive at this sporting Mecca, perched up on an old railway escarpment overlooking the Firth of Clyde, you are at a destination. The hotel, designed by Scottish architect James Miller in 1906, now occupies what was the original railway station. The linear building, all dazzling white against an azure sky on our arrival, has unending views of the coastline looking out to the Isle of Arran, Ailsa Craig (where the curling stones come from) and the famous Turnberry lighthouse, which is…

Field follies MISTAKEN IDENTITY Chris Packham mistakenly identified a Countryside Alliance ‘scientist’ on Twitter. Lethal predator control on UK moorland is associated with high breeding success of curlew, a globally near-threatened wader was written by five GWCT scientists and published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research but Packham posted a picture of Professor Simon Denny on a grouse moor. Denny had nothing to do with this paper but has produced reports championing gamekeepers before. JOIN THE MERMAN The Pierhouse Hotel in Argyll has hired a ‘merman’ to promote its wild swimming experiences. Dan Coyle, nicknamed Dan the Merman – who enjoys embracing the cold – takes swimmers out to experience the freezing waters of Loch Linnhe. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM @thefieldmagazine FACEBOOK The Field Magazine TWITTER The…

Eating out RESERVATION THE LEDBURY Where? 127 Ledbury Road, London W11 2AQ What? A two Michelin-starred West London eatery offering tasting menus (£195 for dinner, £165 for lunch) and headed up by chef patron Brett Graham; a huge advocate of British ingredients. His passion is venison as he operates deer parks at Aynhoe Park and Boughton House. “I love sika deer. For a wild animal they have a beautiful amount of fat which gives the meat such incredible flavour,” says Graham. “You don’t need to mess around with it too much because it’s got so much going for it already. I think sika is as good as, if not better than, the finest piece of beef.” Look out for? Venison dishes made from the tongue, shoulder and cheek. The Ledbury…

GLEBE HOUSE PYRFORD, WOKING, SURREY This is a Grade II-listed timber-frame home dating from the 16th century, with the gardens including a walled garden. The four-bedroom property has been extended and renovated and internal features include inglenook fireplaces and exposed beams. There are French doors off the kitchen leading to a terrace and side garden with box hedging, as well as a triple-aspect garden room and a York-stone courtyard. Agent: Savills Tel: 01932 838000 Guide price: £2.25m ESHOTT HALL ESHOTT, MORPETH, NORTHUMBERLAND Eshott Hall is a Grade II-listed Georgian country house hotel, which was adapted from a private residence, but could be converted back. Built in 1738, the hall lies within mature landscaped gardens and woodland and includes a six-bedroom house, a walled garden, a converted stable block and a…

MORE THAN a quarter of a century ago, I helped to publicise the Czech nymph technique here in the UK. I talked at The Game Fair and other shows but it was my article in The Field that attracted the most attention. There was a certain amount of criticism back then, especially over the use of the strike indicator, which was dubbed little better than float fishing, but as my grayling catches in particular rocketed, I felt confident in what I was preaching. I was mentored in the Czech Republic by my guides Franta and Radim (both members of the country’s fly-fishing team), who had taught me as well as they could. With much hard practice, I became proficient enough but watching Radim fish the nymph five years later in…

SINCE early man learned to stand on two feet and walked out of Africa more than a million years ago, few things have been constant in the human condition. But one of them is hair. We all have it, and whatever stays with us in the years that we’re given – in some cases not much at all – it is certain to survive us, even after the final parting. Curiously, however, although we are not generally celebrated as a nation of aesthetes, the British have made unique contributions in the field of hair – and continue to do so to this day. Take GB Kent & Sons, makers of hair brushes since 1777 when Britain was fighting to put down a rebellion in its North American colonies and the…

IF YOU were to identify a single piece of furniture that sums up the pomp – and romp – of the Regency era, celebrated in the popular Bridgerton Netflix series, look no further than the hunt table. This fine demilune side table on castors may have the appearance of a slightly overdressed mahogany wallflower as it resides primly tucked against the wall, but draw it into the room, remove its central sleeve and out will unfurl an object that contains all the relish and titillation of an observant Lady Whistle-down. And it would have similar tales to tell, too, for this was a table around which to party. Hunt tables are, as their name suggests, traditionally associated with the hunt. The English kinds “were a bit like the 18th-century equivalent…

THERE ARE three certain things in life: death, taxes and the presence of at least one apple tree in the garden you get when you move house. Of all ‘top fruits’ (that is tree fruits, as opposed to ‘soft fruits’ such as blackcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries), apples are the most widely planted. And it isn’t difficult to see why. They are less picky about how much sunshine they get than pears, peaches, nectarines and apricots, less prone to bird damage than cherries, more useful and storable than plums and infinitely more delicious than medlars. Their blossom in April and early May is the most beautiful of any top fruit; even lovelier than that of quince or cherry. And older trees, on traditional ‘non-dwarfing’ rootstocks, acquire the kind of gnarled individuality…

From the archives Rough shooting in October by Hibernicus, 20 October 1900 FOR SPORTSMEN in general, and for those who enjoy rough shooting in particular, October cannot fail to have many charms, offering such abundant chances of securing mixed bags which, though perhaps they may not be heavy, generally afford a maximum amount of sport and pleasure. In many cases there are some pheasants to be shot round the outlying coverts and hedgerows, and, though they offer comparatively poor sport to what they would a few months later, they are the first of the season, and as such they have a certain fascination. Partridge driving, too, is in full swing, and the birds, being very strong on the wing, are wont to come quite hard enough and high enough to…

A pioneering trial set up to help rebuild the population of endangered hen harriers in England has reared and released 24 chicks this year, almost double last year’s record high of 13. Hen harrier numbers have shown continuous improvement since the introduction of the government-led hen harrier recovery plan in 2016 and the availability of the brood management trial two years later to alleviate conflict. The trial has seen 82 chicks from 36 broods take to the wing. The population of hen harriers in England is now at its highest for 100 years. As recently as 2013 there were no chicks fledged at all. Amanda Anderson, director of the Moorland Association, said: “I am delighted by the remarkable results this season… The trial has been far more successful than expected…

A ‘notorious’ hunt saboteur has been branded a “danger to the public” by a judge as he was jailed. Paul Allman, 48, was part of a “militia” dressed in black who confronted the Wynnstay in Cheshire, before he struck two supporters, knocking one to the floor. Allman is part of a group known as the ‘Stockport Monitors’ that routinely targets Hunts. When he appeared in the dock, he already had a suspended sentence hanging over him for his involvement in a separate attack on a 15-year-old girl and two men as they watched the Cottesmore in Oakham, Leicestershire. District judge John McGarva sentenced him to 20 weeks in custody.…

FROM Stonehenge to Army manoeuvres, Salisbury Plain has been the scene of human activity for more than 4,000 years. It has evolved through the pressures of intensive sheep farming, deforestation and military use from pre-Roman times onwards. Today, like so much of Britain’s treasured landscape, it faces the tough new challenge of competing leisure demands. Yet, turning off the A36 on to the edge of the Plain, there is a sense of peace and timelessness. Ballington shoot aims to keep it that way. The shoot owner, Barney Stratton, believes that shooting should adapt and evolve – much as Salisbury Plain has done over the millennia. He sums it up neatly: “Everything changes, just embrace the change. Our shoot isn’t large, but we can do our bit.” The first example of…

ORDINARY insomniacs count sheep. Finding themselves unable to sleep, a hunting person lists hound litter names instead: Dauntless and Dainty and Dasher and Dapper; Racket and Random and Ranter and Rapture. The dactylic rhythm soon drifts you off to dream of negotiating trappy rails and soaring over impossible hedges. As early as 1781, Peter Beckford, in his Thoughts on Hunting, acknowledges that hound names are important – and that while the naming process is fun, it is not easy: ‘Young hounds are commonly named when first put out [to walk], and sometimes indeed, ridiculously enough. Nor is it easy, when you breed many, to find suitable or harmonious names for all; particularly as it is usual to name all the whelps of one litter with the same letter, which to…

IT’S A before and after situation. Once you have opened a wardrobe door to discover a favourite cashmere sweater or faithful bit of tweed resembling macramé, your relationship with moths changes forever. A flutter of dusty beige will send you running for the mothballs and putting your dry cleaner on code red. And if losing a trusty friend in the form of a favourite pair of plus fours sounds bad, worse is to come. Numbers of clothes-eating moths are on the rise and they’re homing in on soft furnishings, carpets and even historic tapestries and artefacts. We might sigh about our silk scarves but organisations such as English Heritage and the National Trust have fabric bearing the weight of history to worry about. A quick trip to English Heritage’s website…

THIS month’s test gun is a Browning B725 over-and-under weighing in at 7lb 6oz. It’s a new, limited edition model called the Medallion Silver, available in both field and clay target versions – ours is the former – with upgraded wood and unusual silver inlaid decoration. It comes with a single (mechanical) trigger, full pistol-grip stock, flush-fit, DS (Double Seal) multichokes and has a fleur-de-lys steel shot proof mark. The RRP is £4,750 as tested (£5,150 for the Sporter). First impressions are of a smart, traditional-looking gun. Look a little deeper and an interesting and evolved specification becomes apparent. The aesthetics are clean yet classic. The wood (oil finished) is better than average with good colour, side panels featuring carved drop points and crisp chequering. The deep scroll and acanthus…

COCO 2.5-SEATER SOFA WITH KNIFE-EDGE CUSHIONS SOPHIE CONRAN Hand-made in the UK from natural materials, including a hardwood birch frame, these sofas are wonderfully comfortable. The cushions are not foam but rather European duck feather, so they will need properly plumping but it’s really worthwhile for the feeling of sinking into them. The pretty covers are a linen-viscose mix, seen here in Wild Wood Duck Egg. Width 196cm, depth 102cm, height 95cm Price: £5,995 sophieconran.com HECTOR PLEAT CEILING LIGHT ORIGINAL BTC Shed a little light with these bone-china shades, hand-crafted in Stoke-on-Trent by a family-owned company. Banish stark spotlights and monotonous downlights for good. The range includes three classic designs based on the popular Hector flowerpot shape, with antique brass, satin brass or brushed aluminium fittings. No drama, just elegantly…

“THE trouble with yours is it’s not quite sweet enough and you leave the sloes in too long. Mine’s much better,” said gun three to me as we worked our way through the samples at what had turned into a sloe gin-off at elevenses last season. “Interesting,” I replied, not wanting to get into fisticuffs or miss the tray of hot pheasant pasties and mustard working its way round the barn. Elevenses on a shoot day, that wonderful moment when everyone settles into their stride and has a chance to dish out some banter while tucking into baskets of hearty finger food and glasses filled with bubbly and liqueurs. “Now, have you tried this excellent spiced partridge and sherry broth?” continued gun three, handing around steaming tin mugs. “I got…