Security cam catches fox stealing Hermes delivery
An online shopper was baffled when he couldn’t find a package after being told it was delivered. Martin Hind from Kent then checked his security camera video to try to find the culprit. He complained in a Facebook post the delivery from Hermes that contained electrical goods was “poked” through a gate and left in […]
Police send armed officers, helicopter after ‘tiger’ spotted in Kent
Cops with guns were searching the Kent countryside on Saturday morning after someone reported seeing a tiger on the loose. But it turned out to be a sculpture by a local artist in the village of Underriver, according to the Guardian. Artist Juliet Simpson made the sculpture from chicken wire and 20 years ago then […]
Mine pollution threatens Scottish salmon, say anxious anglers
Scottish authorities are investigating pollution in the River Leven in Fife. Anglers told the Courier newspaper that it’s killing off the salmon and could have wider implications for the local ecology. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency blames the orange colour of the river on an old coal mine at former Westfield site near Cardenden. […]
World hunting loses the wombat
A run of negative media about wombat hunting has brought about a wombat hunting ban. The main populations of the common wombat are in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. It is widespread and listed by IUCN data on endangered species as of ‘least concern’. Of Australia’s three wombat species, only the northern […]
RSPB blames grouseshooters for missing red kite
Police are investigating after a red kite’s tag suddenly stopped transmitting. The RSPB claims the bird ‘may have been’ illegally killed. The RSPB was monitoring a GPS tag attached to the bird in June 2019 by FoRK (Friends of Red Kites), according to the North East’s ChronicleLive news website. The report says the bird called […]
Suspected rhino poachers released by South African court ‘due to coronavirus’
A South African court has apparently released two men accused of poaching rhino horns. The suspects were arrested on Friday 24 April, caught with six rhino horns worth 6 million rand (£250,000), according to an article on an anti-poaching Facebook group. The court in Mpumalanga said it decided to grand them bail “due to Covid-19″, […]
Charlie’s Shoot Walk – Browning channel kidnap
Browning kidnaps Fieldsports Channel! No, it’s not so terrible. Browning simulcasts it #athome vlog on its Facebook page and Fieldsports’ YouTube channel. Adrien Koutny talks about Browning guns and Charlie takes him for a walk around his home shoot in Somerset. We talk about these guns ▶ Sam’s B525 Ultra XS: Browning.eu/b525-ultra-xs.shtml ▶ Amy’s […]
Horse trainer ‘under investigation’ for Baildon mowing
Bradford Council says horse trainer Sue Smith, wife of 81-year-old celebrity showjumper Harvey Smith, is ‘under investigation’ for mowing moorland in the middle of the bird nesting season. The incident was filmed on Baildon Moor north of Bradford, outraging shooting organisations. The moor is managed by Bradford Council, which already has a poor record managing […]
Fieldsports Britain – Paul’s Bohemian rhapsody
Paul is off to a stag and buck happy hunting ground in Hungary. The beasts are thick on the ground and he has to stalk carefully to get the one he wants. Meanwhile, the black grouse lek is underway in the UK’s uplands and, because of low traffic during lockdown, they are lekking in the […]
The Bird Table of Doom: Rats and Squirrels
Charlie Jacoby’s bird table has lots of songbirds – but it also attracts rats and squirrels, and he wants them gone. He tries out various methods until he find the one that works: the .22 rimfire.
Lockdown lekking: black grouse in the road
Grouseshooter James Mawle is one of the most passionate grouse conservationists in the UK. He takes Ben O’Rourke for a walk around his ground in Yorkshire to look for black grouse, which are lekking. Because of the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, there are hardly any cars and the birds are able to go back to […]
Hunting big Hungarian red stags
UK deerstalker Paul Childerley heads to Hungary, where he is spoiled for choice. There are big bucks and huge red stags around every corner. The trick is choosing the right one. ▶ Paul uses a Sako rifle. For more about Sako, visit Sako.fi ▶ For Sako rifle accessories on Amazon, visit Amzn.to/2ltJeyd ▶ For Sako’s […]
Is Bradford Council killing more baby birds? – Fieldsports News, 29 April 2020
Here are the links: Moorland mowing caught on camera – Fcha.nl/horse-trainer-under-investigation-for-baildon-mowing Gamekeepers stop wildfires – Fcha.nl/british-wildfire-season-2020 Vigilante villagers – The Guardian BASC backs Scottish government lockdown U-turn – The Courier When can we fish and shoot again? #whenwefishagain – YouTube & Birmingham Mail GWCT slams government over carrion crows (please note – we accidentally used […]
Rabbit hunting in Essex with a cheetah
We take a three-year-old male cheetah out after rabbits in Essex and hunting with cats is just one of the ways round the laughable hunting ban. We look at some other ways as we count down to repeal of the ban, including taking an eagle out hunting because falconry is exempt from the ban and […]
Knocking down crows – Fieldsports Ireland episode 20
Jason is shooting crows over two farmyards. They have been eating and pooping over the cattle feed and need sorting out. He didn’t expect to put out another Fieldsports Ireland under lockdown – but it’s an episode he filmed in 2019 that he found under his hat.
How the gun trade is helping hospitals – Charlie’s Chatshow – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 33
Beretta and Browning are making respirators for hospital to help the coronavirus effort in Italy and Belgium. Meanwhile, Blaser in Germany is making masks. Daniele Piva, Adrien Koutny and Frederic Hanner talk to Charlie about their companies’ efforts. Thanks to: Daniele Piva, www.beretta.com Adrien Koutny www.browning.eu Frederic Hanner www.blaser.de Here’s what Coronavirus means for […]
Shoots confident about 2020 season – Fieldsports News, 22 April 2020
Here are the links: Most pheasant shoots to go ahead – Fcha.nl/most-shooters-will-happen UK heads for record wildfire season – Fcha.nl/british-wildfire-season-2020 Rural groups blast RSPB over shooting consultation – BASC Bird charity in row over ‘selfish’ falcon breeders – YouTube + Natural England blog RSPB rents out nature reserve to power station – Fcha.nl/rspb-slammed-over-plan-to-put-power-station-on-nature-reserve-in-northeast-england Packham proposes […]
Deer gralloch – how to manage mistakes
Deer expert Niall Rowantree shows how to solve deer gralloch problems. His DSC2 student, Dr Cathy Mayne, has just shot a fallow doe and they are gralloching it in the field. ▶ This is part of our Alien & Natives series, visit Fcha.nl/aliens-and-natives ▶ This item is sponsored by Blaser rifles Blaser.de ▶ To go […]
Trout – catch and cook
Game chef Cai Ap Bryn is hauling in brown trout and cooking them on an open fire. He is on a hunting trip with his mate Trigger Sondheim in Norway, and the lake below the cabin is full of fish. He shows how to rustle up a feast with trout, lemon, butter and basil. To […]
Fieldsports Britain – how to manage a fallow deer herd
Deer expert Niall Rowantree is known for his red deer, his sika and even his roe. Less well-known is the herd of 100 fallow deer on the ground he manages at Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands. He and ecologist Dr Cathy Mayne go out to stalk two fallow does, as part of his management plan. […]
RSPB slammed over plan to put power station on nature reserve in Northeast England
The RSPB has come under fire again for agreeing to a plan to put a power plant on one of its nature reserves. The Statera Energy natural gas plant will be built on a section of Saltholme reserve near Middlesbrough in Teesside. Local MP for Stockton North Alex Cunningham said he was “personally disgusted” about […]
Royal salmon fishing on the Thurso, Scotland
On the last day of a Macnab challenge all keen fisherman Dom Holtam has to do is catch his first ever salmon on the River Thurso in a single day. With guidance from Head Ghillie, Dougie Reid, plus a chance to fish the exclusive Private beat, a favourite of The Queen Mother and Prince Charles, […]
Most shoots will happen this season, says research
Finally, some good news. Most gameshooting will go ahead. A survey of more than 800 shoot owners, manager and gamekeepers across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by Fieldsports Channel finds that 61% of pheasant shoots are going to happen, 21% are mothballed and 18% are yet to make up their minds. It’s the crucial time […]
Magpie shooting in Wales under threat – Fieldsports News, 15 April 2020
Here are the links: Wild Justice aims at Welsh general licences – Crowd Justice Shooters back NHS charity raffles: John Rothery, Jack Pyke, The Shooting Diary Qualify as a GWCT ‘shoot operator’ for free – GWCT Poaching incidents in Gloucestershire – Twitter Sell guns on the roadside, says USA – Time New hunting land for […]
How to age and measure Chinese water deer
Deer manager Paul Childerley shoots a lot of Chinese water deer on his ground in Bedfordshire every year, plus he has stalking clients he takes shooting, too. He is an expert on what makes a good CWD trophy – and he explains it all here. Paul is sponsored by: ▶ Sako Sako.fi ▶ Zeiss Zeiss.com […]
Code of Bad Shooting Practice
There’s a pheasant shooting film out on YouTube that has angered the rest of the UK shooting community. A couple of weeks ago [25 March 2020], a man from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire put up a film that he made about rough-shooting. He and his friends obviously had a lovely day out – but his […]
On Test: steel shotgun cartridges on rabbits
Steel has well-documented benefits and drawbacks for shooting pheasants and pigeons – but how about rabbits. Simon Whitehead tries out steel shotshells on ground game at his home in North Yorkshire to see how they perform, plus he cuts open the rabbits to look at the terminal ballistics of both steel and lead shot. Cartridges […]
Fieldsports Britain – Steel-proof Rabbits
In the big country of North Yorkshire, top rabbit man Simon Whitehead has a rabbit problem. His problem is: what’s the best steel shot to shoot them? All his life, he has used lead shot, but now he wants to look at alternatives. He puts steel cartridges up against lead cartridges to find out. Staying […]
How fieldsports is helping the NHS and carers
Since the coronavirus crisis started, the fieldsports community and farmers have been reaching out to help people with everything from free meat to moral support for the National Health Service. Check out the video below to see what we mean: View this post on Instagram Our farmers x Our NHS #thankyou #heroes #nhs @countryside_alliance_ca @farmersweekly […]
Police charge man with serial poisoning of birds of prey
Police in Dumfries and Galloway say a 64-year-old man has been charged with “a number of wildlife crime offences”. He is believed to be involved in agriculture and not gamekeeping. A post on the constabulary’s Facebook page says the suspect may have killed more than 20 birds of prey and other wild birds in the […]
Germany exempts shooters from lockdown
The German federal government is allowing shooters to break the coronavirus lockdown and carry out wildlife control. According to German interior minister Horst Seehofer, ‘the Federal Government regards exemption of hunters from a general curfew as justified’. A letter to the German Federal Hunting Association, the Deutsche Jagdverband, from civil servant Stephan Mayer sets out […]
Fieldsports Britain – Crow does Argentina
Pigeon expert Andy Crow tries out dove shooting in Argentina. It’s massive. Millions – maybe hundreds of millions of birds throng Cordoba, feasting on crops of maize, sorghum and peanuts. Andy is in a prime position to shoot as many as he can. But how does this measure up to the humble English woodie? Crow […]
Doves vs Woodpigeons – Andy Crow’s in Argentina
Which is best? A big day decoying and shooting British woodpigeons or a monster day roost-shooting Argentinean doves? Andy Crow travels to Cordoba and back to Kent to to find out. Thanks to Jack Pyke for making this happen JackPyke.co.uk To go shooting with with Frontera wing shooting, visit FronteraWingshooting.com
What will happen to the 2020 shooting season in the UK?
To shoot or not to shoot is the dilemma facing a game industry under lockdown. “No one knows whether to go ahead or to cancel,” says James Crowther of Upperwood Estate, talking about uncertainty among shoot organisers. The 2020 shooting season starts with grouseshooting on the Glorious 12th August 2020. Grouse are wild […]
South Somerset Ferreters’ 2019 season
Dramatic footage of ferreting – and fun approach to the sport marks the South Somerset Ferreters’ YouTube channel. You should subscribe on YouTube. In this film, our YouTube member and shareholder Jaf Jefferson reviews the 2019 season, lets us use some of that footage and talks about problems facing the UK’s rabbit population, including myxomatosis […]
Hedgerow food you can pick: pilewort and pennywort
Going for your daily walk? Bushcraft expert Jonny Crockett has a couple of plants you can pick and eat: lesser celandine or pilewort and centella or pennywort. Follow Jonny’s instructions: eat pennywort raw and pilewort cooked Jonny’s website is SurvivalSchool.co.uk
HS2 rolls on – Fieldsports News, 8 April 2020
Packham’s bid to save woodland derailed – Daily Mail and Fcha.nl/hs2 Gamekeepers left out of coronavirus relief – Fieldsports News Rewilders’ tree plans will release greenhouse gases – BBC Top airgun maker launches NHS fundraiser – Just Giving Cops called in after sheep slaughtered – Facebook Farmers can close footpaths – NFUOnline Vegans bully […]
Fear and fantasy: how officials use coronavirus to crack down on fieldsports
At a time when panic-buying could potentially lead to social disorder, the government has decided to target the very people who protect the nation’s supply of meat and crops. In Scotland, the refusal of local lawmakers to include gamekeepers and shooting-related businesses in a financial aid plan appears to have been the tip of an […]
DEFRA asks court to dismiss Wild Justice judicial review
DEFRA has asked a court to refuse Wild Justice’s request for a judicial review seeking to restrict gamebird releases. DEFRA has described the request as “vexatious” and “pointless” and is also asking to be awarded its costs. The government’s move has is being described as extremely positive news by four leading shooting membership organisations. DEFRA’s […]
The British Countryside #athome – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 32
What’s going on in the British countryside during the coronavirus? Charlie finds out. Thanks to: Garry Doolan at BASC BASC.org.uk Gamekeepers Welfare Trust video on Facebook Tim Pilbeam, Rucksack & Rifle Simon Whitehead PakefieldFerrets.co.uk Frederic Hanner at Blaser Blaser.de Jon Bailey at Bailey’s Shooting & Countrywear BaileysShooting.co.uk Rob Fickling, Beyond The Divide BeyondTheDivide.com.au Here’s […]
Fieldsports Britain – Magic of Roe Deer
The roebuck is one of the most attractive deer we look after in the British countryside. As the roebuck season gets underway in the UK – with few of us allowed to go stalking – Niall Rowantree tells the story of the roe deer, its natural history and even its mythology. While most of us […]
Aliens & Natives, with Niall Rowantree
Deer expert Niall Rowantree discusses Scotland’s four deer species, two aliens and two natives, their natural history and how to manage them. Niall starts with the roe deer. What makes the animal so loved by deerstalkers and even wildlife-watchers? He looks at roe deer management and hunting, natural history and even some of the stories […]
How to assess deer fertility
Deer manager Niall Rowantree is in the larder playing wildlife detective. He’s in the middle of assessing the health of the roe doe he’s just shot. She’s thin, has a low fat score, and he hasn’t seen her with young for 2 years. So was her condition too poor to carry young? By looking at […]
‘Send us cash or the baby animal gets it,’ say wildlife charities
Animal charities like to put up images of young wildlife, then demand money to ‘save’ them. But what does ‘save’ actually mean? Ben O’Rourke goes into forensic financials to find out. He talks to Richard Taylor, who knows how to read a balance sheet, and shows the discrepancies between what organisations such as the League […]
How to deep clean your rifle scope
Paul Childerley shows how to wash your scope and keep it in tiptop condition. Paul Childerley is sponsored by Zeiss www.zeiss.com To go hunting with Paul, email paul@childerleysporting.co.uk
How to make a hunting knife
Master knifemaker Alan Johnson talks through the process, including choosing steel, cutting a shape, grinding an edge, making and fitting a handle, and the leatherwork to make a good sheath. He runs Danum Blades in South Yorkshire, the home of British steelmaking, comparable with Solingen in Germany for its knife making heritage. For Danum […]
Hunt sabs ignore coronavirus lockdown – Fieldsports News, 1 April 2020
Here are the links: Hunt sabs warned against breaking lockdown rules – press release Aussie guns and ammo sales ban Cops hunt for destructive moorland bikers – Facebook British Game Alliance in the soup Birds of prey ‘poisoned’ in Derbyshire – newspaper Prince’s red squirrel sanctuary plan hits snag – Daily Mail GWCT slams BBC […]
Speedy fallow stalk and suspended gralloch – Fieldsports Ireland, episode 19
Sometimes, things just go right. Jason is suited and booted, ready for an epic stalk. Just 10 minutes from the car, a shot presents itself, so he takes it. He then chooses to do a suspended gralloch – as he rarely does them – and he needs the practice. He talks us through what he […]
Coronavirus chatshow – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 31
It’s shooting sports in the time of coronavirus. What’s going to happen to the 2020 gameshooting season? Chris Horne from GunsOnPegs and gamekeeper / sporting agent Paul Childerley explain what’s happening to shoots. Niall Rowantree from West Highland Hunting talks about how the Highlands of Scotland are coping. What is the world of shooting […]
Scottish government refuses to help ‘shooting’ businesses
The Scottish government is using the current C19 crisis to force rural businesses from farms and estates to gamedealers out of business. Using coronavirus payouts as cover, the Scottish government under Nicola Sturgeon is trying drive rural businesses involved in shooting into bankruptcy. BASC calls the Scottish government’s decision to exclude deer forests, game larders […]
