Mussel in on the continentals and enjoy these glorious bi-valves - especially now there's an 'R' in the month. Wolf down a bowl of delicious, steaming British mussels
Kilopot from The Mussel Inn
Mussels are a classic example of a shellfish that we used to eat abroad but shunned at home. Paella in Spain, moules marinières in France – yes, but the plentiful blue bivalves on our own shores were regarded with suspicion.
A food success story of the past decade has been the rise of the Scottish mussel industry, with sales whizzing up 25% in 2009. Produced on ropes suspended from rafts in clean seawater, the shellfish are safe and ungritty. With their rich sweetness, omega-3s and high zinc and iron, they are delicious and healthy.
Furthermore, mussels are squeaky-green. Little baby mussel spat attach themselves to the ropes and grow to a good size in a couple of years by feeding simply on what they filter from the 50 litres of water that passes through them every day.
Ian MacKinnon grows 30 tonnes of mussels a year off the west coast near Mallaig, just south of the Isle of Skye. His high-quality shellfish are available by mail order from the excellent fish merchant Andy Race, who also smokes them. Ian’s “office” has a backdrop of mountains falling down to pure, clear water. On a good day he can see six metres down. “I was working one evening in early August last year,” he recalls, “and three big basking sharks swum right up alongside me, 25ft long and sweeping through the water.”
The sharks were filter-feeding like the mussels, hoovering up plankton through their open mouths. A mussel’s shell is open underwater, closing when the tide goes out or when the mussel is harvested. They can last for a week out of the water if kept at a constant, cold temperature. The other thing to know, according to the chairman of the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers, Walter Speirs, is not to put mussels in water. Fresh water kills them and salty water causes them to open, but they’ll be unable to get enough oxygen. He says it is best to put the shellfish in a fridge in a colander and cover them with a damp cloth so they feel moist and cool, as if still bathed in the Highlands climate, perhaps.
Speirs used to run a restaurant in Oban, where he was one of the first to serve Scottish mussels in the early Eighties. “They used to be available bottled in vinegar in chip shops, but not fresh,” he recalls.
A mussel platter
He noticed how people were drawn to the sight of a plate of steaming mussels and would order some. Inspired by his customers’ reaction, he became a mussel farmer and also has Mussel Inn restaurants, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, specialising in Scottish seafood.
The association has popularised the sale of rope-grown mussels in supermarkets, also developing a ready-cooked vac-pack version in sauce that you simply reheat if you don’t want to bother with any of the preparation faff.
HOW TO PREPARE AND COOK MUSSELS
Cooking your own mussels is not difficult, and they are tastier. But check each one first. Strange to say, they should be alive when they go into the pan, since they decompose quickly. Discard any that are cracked or damaged. Tap any that are open and they should close if still alive (also chuck any that are closed after cooking). At this stage, pull off the wispy strands or “beard”. Do this just before cooking as the other end is attached to the mussel and can kill it.
Mussel beard may look like the straggling hairs of an aging hippy but it is a remarkable substance, grown by the mussel to anchor itself to somewhere solid. Another kind, a fan mussel, spins a line so fine, light and golden it became known as “sea silk” and was used for the cloaks of kings. A pair of sea-silk gloves was said to fit into a walnut shell.
The naturalness of mussels means that, to some extent, they are seasonal. It was always said you should eat them only when there was an R in the month, which effectively means avoid the late spring and summer, when they spawn and become puny. While autumn and winter are still the best times to eat mussels, they have a longer season these days, partly because they spawn at different times: the west coast before Shetland, the centre of production.
Mussels are usually sold in bags, which makes it hard to test their quality. The fuller the shell the better, and if you tap two together they shouldn’t sound hollow. That said, small mussels can still be sweet and delicious.
The most famous Scottish mussel is the outsize “clappy-doo”, from the Gaelic clab (enormous mouth) and dubh (black). These monsters are rare and probably more than a touch chewy. How fortunate, then, that the normal kind are now both sustainable and so readily available.
In Bolivia, Ruhan Neethling glimpses golden dorado for the first time
The writer jumping an 18lb golden dorado on the upper Pluma river in Bolivia
He erupted from the river with sunset on his sides and tail, and the ferocity of an attack dog on a very short leash. For a moment I could not imagine taming this wild creature, but he came to hand and all I could think was that this was one of the most beautiful living things I had ever seen. With sides the colour of pure gold, a holographic design on the gill plates, a striking tail and the attitude of a pit bull terrier, the golden dorado must rate as one of the most exotic and desirable freshwater fly-rod species. Add to this the magic of the Amazon jungle and clear, freestone rivers, and you have the makings of something really special.
golden dorado
It did not take much to convince me to accept when I received an invitation to travel to Bolivia last July. The spot where the Amazon meets the Andes is a newly discovered fishery for golden dorado. Its remarkable rivers are much like those found on New Zealand’s South Island and a lot of the fishing here is done by sight-casting.
TO SANTA CRUZ
I met up with Valentine Atkinson, the photographer, in Miami for the final leg to Santa Cruz, where we joined the rest of the group: Jim and Priscilla from Hawaii, and Craig, a doctor from Oregon. We spent a night in Bolivia’s largest city before boarding a charter flight the following morning to the first of two lodges deep in the jungle. Craig and I were to be fishing partners, and on that first night it became ap-parent that we both suffer from severe ATNB (Around the Next Bend) syndrome, so we decided we would be sleeping out if possible.
Over dinner we also met one of the entrepreneurs who had discovered the fishery, and he entertained us with stories about their first scouting trips and the big dorado encountered. Such anticipation did not improve my already poor sleeping patterns.
The morning could not arrive quickly enough, and when we finally boarded the single-prop Cessna en route to the mountains, it began to felt as if we really were on the adventure of a lifetime.
We touched down on the smallest bush strip I have ever landed on to be greeted by our guides and a horde of inquisitive locals. Every photo we took had to be shown to a group of eager children surrounding us, and watching a TV show on Priscilla’s iPad proved to be a real treat for them. Once cramped legs had been stretched sufficiently, we climbed into long, aluminium boats resembling dugouts to be taken upriver to the lodge.
At last we were on the water, although not fishing yet. It took about half an hour to reach the lodge, and the sighting of our first golden dorado in a pool above the airstrip caused my excitement to boil over.
PREDATORY AND AGGRESSIVE GOLDEN DORADO
The golden dorado in these rivers grow to weights of 40lb or more, with fish of around 20lb caught here on a regular basis. They are an aggressive, predatory species, and a sucker fish called sabalo is their main prey. Never before had I seen a river with so high a biomass. There were schools of sabalo everywhere, numbering in their hundreds. The golden dorado migrate with the sabalo into the headwaters of this system during May. It is currently believed the dorado actually spawn with the sabalo, so that their fry have sabalo fry to feed on.
During the warmer parts of the day the dorado hunt in packs, pushing the sabalo into the shallows where they then crash into them, rivalling anything you will ever see in the salt. They hunt in such shallow water that their tails actually get worn down like those of salmon during spawning.
We targeted the dorado in the shallows when they were hunting and in the pockets, pools and runs at other times. It is amazing to see a school of five to 10 fish (“pack” is probably a more appropriate word, as they reminded me of wolves) holding in a pocket 10 metres across – enough to get anyone shaking.
Presentation does not count for much; this is brutal, raw fishing. We were using #8 rods with 20lb to 30lb tippet and 30lb or 40lb wire. Oh yes, I forgot to mention – they have teeth. We probably averaged about two fish per fly, if that. And the big ones can actually bite through 20lb wire. These fish are fly destroyers, as bad as if not worse than the mackerel species and wahoo found in the salt. Big flies and fast strips are not only the norm, they are essential, reminding us even more of saltwater-fishing.
PIRANHA FAMILY
golden dorado
We fished for three days out of the first camp, named Asunta. Craig and I managed a sleep out one night and succeeded in fishing higher up the river than had been fished previously that season. We caught some excellent fish, including a 17lb pacu – a member of the piranha family but, luckily, mostly vegetarian. Dinner consisted of a couple of sabalo speared by the indigenous population with bow and arrow, and cooked on sticks over the fire. It was one of the best fish meals I have ever enjoyed.
On day four we were flown to a second camp, Pluma, for three and half more days’ fishing. Here, Craig, Val and I had an amazing day upstream on the Itirizama river.
During the first run we spotted a pack of good-sized fish herding and crashing through sabalo in shallow water with their backs halfway exposed. I was “on strike” and made a frantic cast into the middle of this mess. One strip and the line went flying from my hand as a train connected to my fly and took to the tracks. A beautiful 10-pounder came to hand and in the glorious morning sunlight he looked fake, like something sculpted out of gold by a craftsman. This promised to be a top day.
Higher up the river we came to a stretch where we caught 10lb fish after 10lb fish in some of the prettiest pocket water I have ever seen. Almost every pocket was lined with gold and there was little we could do to keep them off our lines. In this stretch Val had an epic battle with a good fish that took him through some serious pocket water in a big pool below. He really had to do all he could to keep up with it and he swears he could have lost it a number of times.
One memorable afternoon on a big pool just below the Pluma camp, I got smoked so badly by a good fish that I actually jumped into the current, feet off the bottom, to try and save the situation – unfortunately to no avail. This is just one of my many abiding memories of this wonderful trip. Others include the sight of the prettiest and most prolific butterflies I have ever seen, the 20-pounder that ate my fly at my feet in some serious white water, and the last fish of the trip, which was actually a “three-chance fish”.
Was the golden dorado worth travelling so far for? You bet! The region is wilder than you would dream possible, with amazing scenery around every bend (and there are many) and enough luxury at the lodges to keep even the fussiest aficionado happy. And the fish themselves? The golden dorado is truly something out of this world.
How to CAST for gold In Bolivia
Price for the 2011 season is US$7,200 per rod for a maximum of six rods per week. This includes all charter flights, two nights’ stay at a five-star hotel in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) and a week’s all-inclusive stay at the two lodges (three full days at each camp).
Santa Cruz airport can be reached via daily flights from São Paulo, Brazil or Buenos Aires, Argentina, or via direct flights from Madrid. The writer flew from Miami via La Paz.
Yellow fever vaccinations are required.
The season runs from May to October.
Dorado of up to 38lb have been recorded.
Frontiers is the main booking agent for Tsimane Lodge. Steffan Jones is the contact. tel 0845 299 6212, extension 3
email sj@frontierstrvl.co.uk
www.frontierstrvl.co.uk
WHAT TO TAKE
I used an #8, a 9ft leader down to 20lb tippet and then wire. Take enough – I went through two and a bit spools. Dark flies with a bit of flash in the 3in to 5in range worked best, especially those with bunny strip tails. As you will be doing a lot of sight-fishing, good polarised sunnies are a must. And pack bug spray; the no-see-ums are ferocious.
Lord Grantham would have had a flat coat retriever with him at Downton Abbey, being the gundog of choice before labradors stole their thunder.
Black flat coated Retriever
It seems churlish to criticise an outstandingly good costume drama, but it would have been more appropriate if Lord Grantham had appeared in the recent ITV series Downton Abbey with a flatcoated retriever rather than a pale yellow labrador. The first yellow labrador was born only in 1902, so in the pre-First World War period in which Downton Abbey was set, yellow labs were not only very rare, but fox-red rather than pale lemon in colour. It was the flatcoat that was the favoured gundog of the Edwardian country gentleman, as the labrador retriever had yet to make its mark.
Retriever field trials were then in their infancy, and were dominated by flatcoats. The first trial to be run by the Retriever Society in conjunction with the Kennel Club was a 20-dog all-aged stake held at Horstead Hall, Norwich, in November 1906. The entry consisted of 15 flatcoats, four labradors and a single curlycoat. Though the stake was won by a flatcoat, Lewis D Wigan’s Sweep of Glendaruel, it was a labrador called Flapper that came second. Flapper’s success was a sign of things to come, and before long the flatcoat would be totally eclipsed by the labrador as a working retriever. By the end of the decade arguments raged in the sporting press as to which was the better gundog. A correspondent who signed himself M wrote to The Field in November 1909, listing the good points of both breeds. M regarded the labrador as the hardier of the two, and liked its short coat as it didn’t pick up mud or wet. He thought it the better dog for certain work, such as picking-up after a grouse or partridge drive, or standing at a covert shoot. He also noted that the labrador had a, “good nose and mouth as a rule, but [is] inclined often to use eyes too much and cast forward if scent weak, instead of puzzling it out – at times with great success, but it is a fault to my mind”. When it came to flatcoats, M thought they had excellent mouths and good noses, but in style were inclined to be slow or to potter, or even be slack on a hot day. However, while he regarded the labrador as a one-man dog, the flatcoat was praised for being, “very friendly and affectionate with master and everyone else”. His conclusion was that, “Given a good scent the labrador easily beats the flatcoat and has birds quicker. Given a bad scent, the flatcoat will equal the labrador and probably better him.” However, the flatcoat’s eventual fall from favour wasn’t its pottering or slackness on hot days, but because labradors proved to be quicker to mature and easier to train.
Though flatcoats remained popular with gamekeepers until the Twenties, their heyday was over, and it wasn’t long before they became a rare sight in the shooting field, almost totally eclipsed by the upstart from North America. No one is quite sure of the flatcoat’s origins, but the wavy-coated Newfoundland retriever is thought to be one of the principal ancestors. These dogs were in turn crossed with setters to produce an animal resembling the dogs we see today. The early flatcoats soon proved themselves to be excellent gundogs, quickly finding favour with sportsmen for their ability to retrieve and their enthusiasm for entering water. Early flatcoats were black, with the liver variant not appearing until the early Forties.
Today the flatcoat remains largely ignored by shooting men, but its relative lack of popularity in the show ring for many years has been to its advantage, for there is no visual difference between an individual from a working or a show kennel, not something that can be said of either labradors or golden retrievers. However, flatcoats have become much more popular in the show ring in recent years. At last year’s Crufts there were no fewer than 358 entered, compared with 507 labradors. To put this in perspective, around 45,000 labrador puppies are registered every year, compared with a mere 1,300 or so flatcoats, so a higher proportion of flatcoats end up being shown. They are an unusual sight in field trials, and only one field trial champion has been made up in the past 20 years. I asked Rory Major, one of the few people to have won a trial with a flatcoat, why they are so scarce in competition. “I’ve always found flatcoats to be among the best game-finding dogs, and a good one can be brilliant, but they are slow to mature and can be difficult to train. You can put a dead pheasant out during a training session and a flatcoat is quite likely to ignore it.” Fiona Joint has worked and trained flatcoats for 20 years, and agrees with Rory. “They are often called the Peter Pan of the dog world, and with good reason. If you don’t like being made to look foolish and want to win consistently then you probably shouldn’t choose a flatcoat. There are very few people who are really committed to training and competing in trials with flatcoats and we really need more of the top triallers to give the breed a go. As picking-up dogs, I believe they are unequalled: they have wonderful noses and will always find the bird given up for lost by the other breeds. They are still dual-purpose, as you can work and show them, with working tests often won by dogs that do both. But when it comes to trials it’s really only the pure working dogs that do well.”
So there’s the golden rule. If you want a flatcoat for shooting, make sure that you get one from a kennel or breeder that gives more emphasis to brains and working ability than success in the show ring. Such dogs do exist, though finding one can be just as much of a challenge as training it to be a gundog.
The hunting hotties are street ahead when it comes to disrobing for a good cause...the shooting fraternity needs to get their socks off...
The WFC naked Charity Calendar is available to buy from www.wiltshirewfc.co.uk
Now is time to source the best naked charity calendars for the upcoming year. We have heard tell of dashing Irish hunting gels, brave Bloodhound followers and a pleasing clutch of horsey hotties ready to take to the field with little more than a scanty starched stock to cover their modesty.
The Field is known for finding the very best in naked charity calendars. Enthusiastic Young Farmer’s Club members are always keen to strip down and sit on a bale. The Naked Strewth has a cult following among those in the know. The shooting fraternity need to get their socks off…and sharpish.
NAKED CHARITY CALENDARS
We are now searching for 2015 naked charity calendars. The critieria are simple. It must be for a good cause, so any deserving charity would fit the bill. The photographs must be of good quality. And the photograher must be happy for us to use the naked charity calendar images in the magazine.
RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY
The 2014 Naked Strewth has seen a flurry of top notch naked charity calendars feature in The Field. These naked charity calendars have included the inimitable Garrison Girls raising money for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Hotties Helping Heroes raised £9000 for Help for Heroes. The Foxy Hunters are always popular and have raised a great amount for the Air Ambulance. An invaluable service for any sportsman.
The Field gives a donation to each charitable cause for the naked charity calendars used.
THE 2015 CROP
Do you know of any naked charity calendars that make the grade? If you do please email field.secretary@timeinc.com with the details. We are searching for the very best naked charity calendars for 2015 now.
Finding something fun to do with your trout can be taxing. The Field have picked the top ten trout recipes to help you tackle your trout
Top ten trout recipes
Trout has been high on the agenda for me ever since my husband arranged a fishing trip to Ireland for our honeymoon in the post-war Fifties, casting a hopeful line over every inch of even the most unpromising lough or stretch of river.
My daughter’s husband followed suit, taking her camping high in the Himalayas in pursuit of the brown trout introduced by homesick British officers during the time of the Raj. Both of us are quite used to packing matches and searching out dry tinder in case of a happy catch; there isn’t much that’s better tasting than a fat, freshly caught trout cooked on the river-bank, sizzling in bacon grease or butter.
Wild Scottish trout come top of the culinary list for their sweet, bright-pink flesh, but even their plumper southern cousins caught in the Itchen or Test are delicious if treated right.
Often, the ingredients that complement them best are to be found growing nearby: wild fennel, sorrel and ramsons (wild garlic) all go well with fish, and there’s a great deal of satisfaction to be found in foraging for your own herbs.
While you can buy smoked trout, there’s yet further satisfaction to be found in smoking your own, with an Abu Smoker or in a wok, and it’s cheap and quick to do.
Not everyone fishes, but that’s no reason not to eat trout. Farmed fish are available from fishmongers (if you can find one) and supermarkets, but make sure they are fresh. The skin should be shiny, the spots still visible, and eyes unsunken.
Trout is easy to cook, the main rule being don’t overdo it. The following recipes are all tried, tested and almost impossible to muck up for anyone with a grain of cooking common sense.
The Field's top 10 best pheasant recipes will ensure your brace never bores on the plate.
The Field's best pheasant recipes serve from one to a crowd
The Field’s best pheasant recipes have been collected with one thought in mind. To keep this most popular gamebird perfect on the plate. Pheasant is good to eat: wild, inexpensive, naturally reared and nutritious. When cooked well it can be a superb supper or delectable dinner.
But cooking the bird can be daunting for novices and dull for old hands. The best pheasant recipes encompass dishes to suit all tastes and skill. From supper for one or two (Parmesan pheasant breasts with crispy ham) to the best dish for a ravenous hoarde (Pheasant Guidwife) our best pheasant recipes will suit anyone with a modicum of cooking know how.
If you shoot you will be familiar with the brace of birds presented at the end of the day.You will also be able to tell by looking if your bird is young or old, a cock or a hen. If you are more familiar with a pheasant from your game dealer, ask him. And if it comes from the supermarket you will have to take your chances. A good game dealer or butcher should be able to tell you everything you need to know about the bird.
If you buy the odd bird from the dealer then the best pheasant recipes will offer a cornucopia of delightful dining delights. If you have the fortune to shoot regularly, this does mean that as the season wears on family and friends start to scuttle to the hills at the sight of the bountiful hunter-gatherer returning home with another two brace. Cries of “Not another bloody pheasant casserole!” echo in country houses up and down the shires.
Having something stolen is always upsetting but when what you lose is a faithful companion the situation is much worse. Dog theft prevention is important for owners of working dogs and pets alike.
AEM44P Beagle at the veterinary: micro chip is being read
Labradors and cocker spaniels continue to be the two most popular breeds of dog in Britain – and where there is desirability, crime is never far behind. Growing concern over gundog theft keeps us awake at night, but putting hard figures to our fears is difficult. About 50,000 dogs a year are officially reported to insurance companies as “lost” – but what percentage of these have been stolen? Strangely, twice that number of stray dogs are picked up each year. The lines between strayed, abandoned, lost, found and stolen make dog theft almost impossible to police.
There has always been a tendency for even normally law-abiding members of the public to “find” the cuter kind of spaniel or a cuddly labrador. One of my cockers was “found” one morning as she worked a hedge alongside a quiet lane. I reached the gateway just in time to catch the family stowing her in their hatchback, “to take her to the RSPCA”. But when your top field trials-bred pup is “found” from the kennel at midnight through use of a bolt cutter and the other dogs are ignored, you know that your dog has been stolen, probably to order.
Short of personal, physical attacks on ourselves or our children, having a dog stolen is really the worst crime that any of us are likely to experience. When the house is burgled or the car broken into, or your mobile phone nicked, it is bad enough, but you have lost inanimate objects, even though precious. You are not left wondering whether your flat-screen telly is missing you, or the laptop is being well-treated or used for puppy farming. Most working gundogs are loved family members, and often valued throughout the wider country community – something the police would do well to remember when responding to dog theft reports.
But dog theft is a crime with a broad spectrum. At one end of the scale is the parent who finds a straying dog and, unable to resist the family’s pester-power pleas of “can we keep him”, doesn’t report it. That family should be aware that this in itself is a criminal offence. All “found” dogs are deemed stolen unless reported to police or the local authority dog warden, and these are the people to contact first if your dog has been stolen.
If the worst happens, put your emotions to one side for the moment and approach the situation as a military campaign. Work through the step-by-step list below, adding as many contacts as you can think of. Take action instantly. The quicker you move and the more people who know what has happened, the more difficult you are making it for the thief to sell the dog on.
If the dog has gone missing for innocent reasons, working through your plan should bring you news, perhaps within a couple of hours. Another alternative is that the dog has been dognapped, which is unpleasant but resolvable. The thief will approach you through a third party, “claiming the reward”. Find an intermediary to do the deal to avoid things getting personal. The worst outcome is that the dog has been stolen to order and is already far down the illegal trade chain before you can intervene.
Ultimately, the only way to fight this crime is to prevent it. Microchipping and kennel security are obvious musts on a personal level, but in the gundog world we are lucky to be part of a whole registration system that will work to make theft much harder, as long as we support the system ourselves. All pure-
bred gundogs are Kennel Club (KC)-registered by their breeders. In order to trial or breed registered litters from a top dog, the paperwork must be in order. So, once a top dog is detached from its paperwork, its value is reduced instantly to that of a pet. That loss of value can be the difference between £5,000 for a top FTCh stud or bitch to as little as £50 for a pet sold in the pub.
Papers can be faked, but new legislation is making this increasingly difficult. If we as owners and buyers are scrupulous about following through on paperwork, stealing gundogs will be much less attractive for criminals.
That means you must never buy a puppy or dog without being sure of its origins and having the correct paperwork. When you get the paperwork, make sure you re-register the dog in your name immediately – this is when faked papers will come to light. Looking at my own page on the KC website recently, I was appalled to see how few of the non-trialling buyers of my pups had bothered to register the new ownership. Do this – if you don’t you are making it easier for someone to steal your dog.
The Animal Welfare Act of 2006 has made it a lot harder to steal a docked breed, but only if responsible owners and breeders obey the law. Any docked puppy must have a docking certificate signed by the vet who performed the operation and giving its full details. The puppy must also be microchipped within three months and, again, the paperwork must match up. So any docked puppy or young dog you buy from now onwards should have this paperwork, and when you take it to your vet for the first time, he should also ask to see the paperwork. If he doesn’t, raise it with him and encourage him to scan newcomers routinely. If all owners and vets were meticulous about this, gundog theft would be much less lucrative because the crime would be discovered as soon as the dog visited a vet for a routine vaccination.
Anybody planning to enter field trials or breed has to be scrupulous about paperwork and pedigrees, but even if your new gundog is going to be little more than a pet, ensure that he is in the system and make sure you keep him there. With gundog theft it’s a case of, “if you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DOG THEFT PREVENTION
Have your dog microchipped by your vet, who will register you with The Kennel Club’s Petlog scheme (www.petlog.org.uk). The basic fee is £2 but it is worth upgrading to the premium service for £10.
Create a “dog log” including your dog’s paperwork and decent recent photographs together with a list of contact phone numbers: Petlog, local dog warden (visit www.ndwa.co.uk), the police, local vets and rescue centres, gundog training clubs, dog breeders and pet shops. Do this now – if the worst happens it will enable you to react fast, which hugely improves your chances of recovering the dog.
Use a collar stating that your dog is chipped (legally you should also add your name and postcode). Keep kennels secure and display a large notice inside the kennel stating that all dogs are chipped. Consider night-activated sodium security lighting.
Never let your dog roam alone at home or in the field (obviously gundogs don’t do this anyway).
If your dog is stolen report the crime to the police and inform all the contacts on your dog log.
Distribute posters and flyers offering a reward for information (first check with your local council that you are not contravening a by-law). Petlog’s website has a facility to generate posters.
Consider using a pet detective or animal search website. These include: www.lostlabs.com; www.doglost.co.uk; and www.animalsearchuk.com.
Help reduce dog theft by never buying a dog or puppy without all of the correct paperwork, encouraging your vet to scan all dogs routinely, visiting the Dog Theft Action website and the RSPCA’s anti-puppy trafficking campaign.
The weather is a British fascination. Long before the Met Office, folklore showed allowed us to predict the weather
A3TBCJ Storm force winds and high tides Aberystwyth promenade and beach Ceredigion January 2007 UK
Anticipating how to predict the weather has been a principal concern of man since he crawled out of the swamp and will, no doubt, continue to be an obsession until his time on this planet ends. The very existence of Stone Age hunter-gatherers depended on their ability to interpret changes in the rhythm of seasons accurately by observing the patterns of nature: the colour of the sky at dusk or dawn; the shape of clouds or the direction of the wind; the behaviour of animals and the migration of birds; the activity of insects and mammals; or a dearth or abundance of plant growth. Communities that got it right were the ones that survived, passing this vital knowledge on from generation to generation.
Our Neolithic ancestors, the first agriculturalists, in-creased their understanding of the weather by a detailed study of the cycle of the sun and moon and erecting stone circles, henges and monoliths (the ultimate symbols of prehistoric achievement) which were aligned to the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes and lunar phenomena. Gradually, as a primitive calendar evolved, it became apparent that the weather conditions on certain days influenced the elements during the following few weeks. These observations were added to the existing Celtic seasonal festivals of Beltane (1May), Samhain (1 November), Imbolc (1February), and Lugnasadh (1 August) as occasions for worship of the sun gods or relevant sky deity for that particular day.
USE SAINTS’ DAYS TO PREDICT THE WEATHER
When Christian missionaries reached these islands in the first few centuries AD, they were faced with the task of transforming deep-rooted heathen practices into Christian dedications. Appreciating the significance of weather worship for the pagan population, the church began to attach saints’ names to the days of Celtic weather prophecy in order to align the two belief systems. The saints’ days of prediction became a calendar around which agriculture was planned and, as the river of history flowed through the centuries, generations of observant country people, sailors and fishermen added a mass of weather beliefs, sayings and adages. To help remember them, the majority took the form of rhyming coup-lets, which produced some of the most evocative prose and poetry in the English language. They became part of culture and education, and together they constitute a priceless treasury of folklore that is a unique part of our national heritage.
In the Fifties, my father still used heavy shire horses on the farm. His horseman, Jim Akehurst, was typical of the older generation of countryman who could recite the saints’ days of weather prophecy and monthly prediction by heart. In the front parlour of his cottage were three framed samplers, painstakingly stitched by his grandmother. Two catalogued all the days of prediction and how the saint had been martyred, the third listed the quarter and cross-quarter days, and their relevant weather prophecies. Since the Middle Ages, the quarter days were the four dates each year when servants were hired and rents and rates became due. They were also the dates when magistrates visited remote areas to adjudicate outstanding cases and suits. Quarter days fell on four religious festivals, three months apart, close to the two solstices and two equinoxes which marked the start of the seasons: Lady Day, 25 March – the Feast of the Annunciation; Midsummer’s Day, 24 June – the Feast of St John the Baptist; Michaelmas Day, 29 September – the Feast of St Michael; and Christmas Day, 25 December. The cross-quarter days were holidays in between quarter days: Candlemas, 2 February – the Purification of the Virgin; May Day, 1 May; Lammas, 1 August – the Feast of the First Fruits; All Hallows Day, 1 November – All Saints’ Day. Each of these dates has its origins in pagan festivals of weather worship, subsequently appropriated by the Christian church.
THE AGRICULTURAL YEAR
The pattern of Jim’s life was planned around the quarter days, cross-quarter days and saints’ days of weather prediction and this was how he kept in mind key events. If a mare foaled on 11 June, for example, he would remember the foal as having been born on St Barnabas’ Day, which, according to weather lore, is always fine and, traditionally, marks the start of haymaking. Similarly, if a notable incident occurred on 3 August, it would be lodged in his memory as having happened two days after Lammas, one of the quarter days, when corn is supposed to ripen as much by day as by night.
The agricultural year started on 1 October. The harvest was over, the quarterly rent paid, Harvest thanksgiving celebrated and now farmers looked onward to winter’s challenge and the following year’s harvest. November, full of portent, was known as the black month, but like poor, mad John Clare, the “peasant poet”, I love its stark beauty:
Sybil of months and worshipper of winds,
I love thee, rude and boisterous as thou art:
And scraps of joy my wandering ever finds
’Mid thy uproarious madness.
November marked the beginning of the dark half of the year for the Celts, who celebrated the start of the month with the three-day festival of Samhain. Livestock were slaughtered; some as sacrifices but most to keep communities alive through the winter. Because of this, the Celts called November the “blood month”, a name which lasted until the late 19th century. Samhain, like other Celtic festivals, became incorporated into the Christian calendar and was reinvented as All Saints’ Day, 1 November. According to Jim’s sampler;
On first November if weather is clear
’Tis the end of the sowing you’ll do for the year.
It meant that a clear day presaged frost and this, coupled with the shortening hours of daylight, put an end to the autumn sowing. Ten days later, at Martinmas, there were further pre-dictions, which often prove accurate today.
If ducks do slide at Martinmas
At Christmas they will swim;
If ducks do swim at Martinmas
At Christmas they will slide.
This indicated that a cold snap before Christmas is often followed by a mild winter and vice versa. Similarly:
If leaves fall not by Martinmas Day, a cruel winter’s on its way.
The weather on 23 November, St Clement’s Day, set the scene for the forthcoming winter. (He was martyred by being thrown into the Black Sea attached to an anchor.)
St Clement gives the winter.
This was reinforced two days later on St Catherine’s Day. (She was so pious she bled milk when beheaded in AD 279.)
As St Catherine, foul or fair,
So ’t’will be next Febryair.
The Church was so busy cramming December with religious services in an effort to quash any residue of the Roman festival of Saturnalia and the Norse festival of Yule, that there seems to have been little room for saints’ days of weather prediction. An exception is 21 December, St Thomas Didymus’ Day. (Thomas the Apostle was said to have carried Christianity to India in about AD45 and been speared to death.)
If it freeze on St Thomas’ Day, the price of corn will fall;
If it be mild, the price will rise.
This reflects the belief that a good summer follows a bad winter, leading to a glut of grain, and that a bad summer follows a mild winter, leading to a scarcity.
Always of immense significance, wind direction on New Year’s Eve was believed to set the weather pattern for the year.
If New Year’s Eve the wind blows South
It betokeneth warmth and growth.
If West, much milk and fish in the sea.
If North, cold and storms there will be.
If East, the trees will bear much fruit.
If North East, then flee it, man and brute.
January is a disturbing month; the hours of daylight are imperceptibly getting longer, but the landscape remains bare and sterile, and winter still stretches away into the distance. There is hope and expectation if the weather is clear on the 22nd, St Vincent’s Day. (He was a martyr flayed and cooked on a gridiron by the Emperor Diocletian in AD304.)
If on St Vincent Day the sky is clear,
More wine than water will crown the year.
The weather predictions three days later, on the day Ananias, the Bishop of Damascus was tortured and stoned to death in AD 40, serves to illustrate how terrifying the winters were to superstitious rural communities.
If St Ananias’ Day be fair and clear,
It betokeneth a happy year.
But if it chance to snow or rain
Dear will be all sorts of grain.
If clouds or mist do dark the sky
Great store of birds and beasts will die.
And if the winds do fly aloft
Then wars shall vex the kingdom oft.
MODERN METEOROLOGY v FOLKLORE
Has modern meteorology destroyed the credibility of centuries of perceived weather wisdom? In the short term, traditional weather lore remains a reliable guide to daily changes in the climate. Probably the most well-known phrase, Red sky at night, a shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, a shepherd’s warning, continues to be as consistently accurate as it was when Jesus is reported to have observed: “When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and lowering.” (Matthew XVI, 2–3) In the longer term, some of the monthly and saints’ days prophecies lack credibility. This is largely because we are undergoing a period of cyclical climate change and, as the Met Office admits, our weather is so chaotic at the best of times that forecasting beyond about a week is highly speculative. Nevertheless, the saints’ days and prophecies have their place, if only because they are part of our literary history and, not so long ago, formed the calendar of rural life. Apart from anything else, it is fun following them through the year and seeing which prove correct.
Portugal is a great destination for wine tourists so get the plane to Porto and taste test the Douro Valley for its table wine as well as port
Taylors Quinta da Vargellas high in the Douro Valley east of Pinhao Portugal Douro Port
There are few wine regions I look forward to visiting quite as much as I do Porto and the Douro Valley. The wine, of course, is unique, be it a nutty, raisiny, tawny port, an easy-drinking ruby, a full-blown vintage or simply a Porto Tónico (white port and tonic, than which there are few finer aperitifs). The region’s table wines are also increasingly impressive.
I love the food, which, although clearly not in the same league as that of Bordeaux or Burgundy (salt cod anyone?), is hearty and authentic. Try some typical roast suckling pig if you doubt me, or rabbit in paprika.
Porto, with its shops, restaurants, bars, cafés and old town, is a delight to potter around as is Vila Nova de Gaia across the river, with its port lodges and quayside, alongside which the celebrated rabelo boats, used for bringing the barrels of port down from the Douro Valley, are moored.
And there’s an appealing and comforting air of Blighty about the place thanks to the fact that after the British first came to Porto in the second half of the 17th century, to swap wool for port wine, they never really left.
The best-known port producers and shippers still sport such British names as Taylor, Graham, Croft, Churchill, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell, and when you wander about you’ll find the British School, the British Association, the Anglican Church and the British Club, better-known as the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. There are familiar-looking red pillar boxes on the street corners and, unlike the rest of Continental Europe, the clocks here run on Greenwich Mean Time just like ours.
Above all, though, I’m always struck by the genuine hospitality of the port shippers and producers. There are few wine regions where visitors are welcomed quite so warmly, be it to the lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia (where the ports are brought to mature in oak barrels) or to the producing quintas in the Douro Valley itself. Visits are conducted in English and guests are encouraged to taste (and are able to buy) all manner of ports.
The Douro Valley is one of Europe’s last great wildernesses and one of the world’s most beautiful viticultural areas. The vineyards stretch along the river on vertiginous terraces and there can be few nicer ways to see them than by taking the train up from Porto to Pinhão (about two hours) and the boat back.
Wangle an invitation to one of the quintas – Malvedos, say, owned by Graham’s, or Vargellas, owned by Taylor’s. You’ll be wined and dined with great warmth and are likely to be invited to tread the grapes yourself, whack golf balls across the river and even water-ski.
The port producers and shippers need, welcome and reward our support and, of course, there’s no better way of disproving that port causes hangovers than by enjoying plenty of it over a long weekend where it is made.
WHERE TO BUY AND TASTE IN THE DOURO
Graham’s Port Lodge (00 351 22 377 6484) boasts a small museum dedicated to the families behind the brand. Graham’s offers a number of excellent tours ranging in price from €3 to €30 per person, each of which includes the chance to taste three different ports at the tour’s end. The pricier the tour, the finer the ports.
Taylor’s Port Lodge (00 351 22 374 2800) also runs an excellent and highly informative tour for €3 per person, after which visitors taste three ports in the elegant Library Room or out on the terrace.
Near the quay of Vila Nova de Gaia, Ramos Pinto (00 351 22 370 7000) is worth a visit, not only for the tour of the cellars and tasting but also for the museum, housed in Adriano Ramos Pinto’s former office, preserved as it was in the Thirties.
WHERE TO EAT IN THE DOURO
The brand-spanking-new Vinum (00 351 22 093 0417) is a casual but rather chic tapas bar and restaurant set in the heart of Graham’s 19th-century wine cellar. Sit surrounded by 3,000 or so oak barrels full of maturing port and dine on such tasty Portuguese dishes as black-pudding samosas, oxtail stewed in red wine and confit and crispy sucking pig. The wine list is exhaustive and the views striking.
For posh fine dining, head for celebrity chef (and local boy) Rui Paula’s DOP (00 351 22 201 4313) in the Palace of Arts in Porto’s historic area. The several-course “Douro Menu” comprises such dishes as caramelised apple stuffed with foie gras; langoustine with calamari and beans; veal in smoke (a morsel of buttery soft veal served under a glass dome filled with smoke – weird, I know, but surprisingly good).
Ze Bota (00 351 22 205 4697) tucked down a tiny backstreet near Porto’s bizarre double church (Carmelitas church one side, Carmo church the other, separated by a metre-wide house), is much more casual and intimate, serving fine wine and simple Portuguese fare.
Taberna do Bonjardim (00 351 22 201 3560) up near the main market is a real hangout for locals who come here to enjoy a wide range of Portuguese wines in the tiny bar downstairs or varied dishes such as salt cod on fried bread and caramelised chestnut or cod risotto with poached egg in the equally tight-under-the-arms dining-room upstairs.
For a sinful mid-morning snack head for Leitaria de Quinta 1920 Paco (00 351 22 208 4696) in Praça Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, a former dairy that now serves a variety of fabulous éclairs with a variety of toppings such as dark choc-olate and whipped cream, strawberry and meringue, lemon curd and so on.
WHERE TO STAY IN THE DOURO
For an absolutely corking view of Porto, look no further than The Yeatman (00 351 22 013 3100), set among the port lodges high on the hill of Vila Nova de Gaia. Add a vast wine cellar stocked with every port and Portuguese table wine imaginable, a Michelin-starred restaurant and a Vino-thérapie Spa by Caudalie and you have the best place to stay in the area.
In Porto itself, round the corner from the exquisite, blue-tiled São Bento railway station (well worth a stare) is Hotel Teatro (00 351 22 040 9620) on the site of the old Teatro Baquet. It is modern and stylish and dead central.
If you’re heading up the Douro Valley, aim for the five-star CS Vintage House Hotel (00 351 25 473 0230) in Pinhão. It’s an ideal staging post for visiting the quintas in the valley and comes complete with pool, tennis court and so on.
If you really want to get away from it all, though, try Quinta de San José (00 351 25 442 2017). A working winery with four small cottages that can be hired separately or together for larger groups, the quinta is a wonderfully tranquil spot right on the river and has stunning views.
WHERE TO SHOP IN THE DOURO
Portugal is still feeling the pinch financially and several shops, stores and cafés have failed to weather the recession. Others, though, continue to thrive. Start your window-shopping tour with a coffee in the exquisite art nouveau Majestic Café (00 351 22 200 3887) on Rua de Santa Catarina, Porto’s main pedestrian street. You’ll pay a little over the odds for your cuppa here but it’s worth every penny so beautiful a spot is it.
Head down Rua de Santa Catarina and turn left into Rua Formosa and admire the two celebrated local grocers/wine shops on either side of the street: A Pérola Do Bolhão (00 351 22 200 4009) and Comer e Chorar Por Mais (00 351 22 200 4407). Here you can buy dried and crystallised fruits, charcuterie, biscuits, cakes, pastries, nuts, tea, coffee and vino while gawping at the art nouveau façades.
The Gothic revival/art nouveau Livraria Lello e Irmão (00 351 22 200 2037) has some claim to be the world’s most beautiful bookshop. The staff can be a bit grumpy with tourists coming to stare at the enchanting, Harry Potteresque interior and remarkable staircase but steel yourself; it’s more than worth it.
Just around the corner in Rua Galeria de Paris is the delightful A Vida Portuguesa (00 351 22 202 2105; www.avidaportuguesa.com), a wonderfully elegant emporium containing all manner of modern, retro and genuinely old-fashioned Portuguese goods – from honeys, jams and tinned sardines to books, stationery and soaps.
WHERE TO DRINK IN THE DOURO
O Mercado Bar (00 351 93 527 4536) in the revamped Mercado Ferreira Borges has a lively indoor restaurant and a small outdoor terrace serving what it claims is the best Porto Tónico in the world.
Restaurante Bar Galeria de Paris (00 351 22 201 6218) in a former warehouse is one of the quirkier bars of Porto, with an eclectic mix of art and bric-à-brac on the walls, including an entire Fiat Cinquecento. It’s open till the small hours and is a great spot to hang out.
Café Douro aka Café Piolho (Café “Nits” in English) (00 351 22 200 3749) is a Porto institution, beloved of generations of students (hence the rather unflattering nickname, presumably) from the nearby university, many of whom come to celebrate their graduations here.
Clérigos Café e Brasserie (00 351 22 340 0770) is brand new and, despite the aloof and snooty staff, is well worth a detour thanks to its vast range of local wines and ports that one can sample by the glass from its state-of-the-art Enomatic wine dispensers.
In Largo Mompilher there are the delightfully bohemian bar/café/bookstore Café Candelabro (00 351 96 698 4250); the window-service only Gin Gin, between Candelabro and the chic Champanheria da Baixa (00 351 22 096 2809; www.champanheriadabaixa.com), which specialises in fizz (do try its sangria de espumante) and dainty tapas.
These venison rolls would work equally well for point-to-points and picnics as they do at 'grog stop' on a shoot. Try our delicious sausage rolls recipe
Venison sausage rolls recipe
Elevenses is an important punctuation on a shoot day. When spending the day gallivanting outside, often in the cold and wet, who wouldn’t build up a good appetite? So here is a recipe for that much-needed sustenance when it’s not quite yet time for your next meal. These sausage rolls would work equally well for point-to-points and picnics.
The perfect snack to transport to the pegs or slip in your pocket for a piece on the hill. Make a big batch and freeze them before the baking stage. Take them out and defrost as needed.
Makes approx 45 small sausage rolls
375g (13oz) pork sausage meat
700g (1lb 9oz) venison mince
30g (1oz) breadcrumbs or finely ground cream crackers
30g (1oz) parsley, finely chopped
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper
20ml (3⁄4fl oz) milk
1 kilo puff pastry
SAUSAGE ROLLS RECIPE METHOD
Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F/Gas Mark 5. Mix the sausage meat in a bowl with venison mince, breadcrumbs, parsley and whole egg. Season with salt and pepper. In another small bowl or ramekin mix the milk with the egg yolk.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the pastry till roughly 5mm (1⁄5in) thick. Cut into strips approximately 12cm (41⁄2in) wide and brush with some of the yolk mixture. Working on one strip, make a log shape with the filling down one long side of the pastry. Fold over the pastry and press down the edges with a fork. Trim the edge to neaten if necessary then brush the entire outside with the rest of the yolk mixture. Cut the roll into 5cm (2in) pieces and lightly slash the top of each one.
Bake for about 20 minutes until cooked in the centre and golden on top.
The Brownstone shoot in South Devon has its own pub. Reason enough to look forward to a day's pheasant shooting. One even gets to shoot from an island, and walk on water...
Walking on water at the Brownstone shoot, South Devon
Every shooting day taken by an individual, where others are guests, is a reflection on the host. For all the sport, hospitality, lunch, wines, woodland, silence and orderliness of the beaters, those of us grateful for our invitation should always keep an eye on the person who made it all possible.
Often hosts wish to take a back seat on their days, wanting nothing more than that their guns should have fun. Not infrequently, I have been on shoots where the host, despite being a good shot, does not raise his gun all day.
When, however, the host’s entire family home has been created with the pheasant shooting around it in mind, complete with an authentic pub, lakeland and woodland landscape, then even more attention must be paid. For the shoot has been created in the very image of the man.
Such is the case on the Brownstone shoot near Yealmpton (the location of Old Mother Hubbard’s cottage) in South Devon, which has become the realised dream of successful Westcountry businessman, Michael Hockin. It nestles not a mile from the sea, between the famous Kitley shoot – where I have shot several times – and the Flete estate near Mothecombe.
Once, Brownstone formed part of the estate of the first Lord Revelstoke, one of the many titles accorded to the Baring family of bankers who began their success in Exeter in the 18th century. He built nearby Membland Hall in 1877 but sold it after the banking crash of 1895. It was demolished in 1945.
But as you approach Brownstone nowadays, before you is the old lodge with an enormous carved bull on one side and a bear on the other. It is said that this is the origin of the trading term “bull and bear market”, the bear being a pun on the family name of Baring.
Michael Hockin’s purchase and creation of Brownstone for pheasant shooting has been all about his own trading success. He was brought up in the dereliction of bombed-out, post-War Plymouth and yearned for the countryside. The success of his commercial property business, which he started with his wife Diane in 1983, has allowed him to achieve this by creating the shooting estate at Brownstone.
To begin with, the Hockins, who came to Brownstone in 1991, lived in a pretty, pink bungalow. They then set about adding bow windows and pillars to the main former farmhouse which, on my visit for a sunny and fairly still private day of family and friends, also boasted a tall flagpole and a fluttering Union flag in the garden, so there is no questioning Michael’s pride or patriotism.
“The pheasant shooting at Brownstone is Dad’s creation, his privacy, his refuge and his pride and joy,” his daughter Annamarie told me.
“He has worked all his life to achieve this.” The farm buildings are immaculate, the landscaping faultless and, as we assemble for a 9.30 start, I see the Hockins’ own Brownstone shoot pub The Dog and Duck, where lunch will be served. One also senses that Annamarie, an Edinburgh University graduate and now a successful private banker in Bristol, is something of her father’s “pride and joy”, too. As we get into his Range Rover to go to the first drive, I notice a silver frog on the bonnet. “Frog”, he tells me later, is the family nickname for his daughter.
Brownstone is not so much an estate with a shoot as pheasant shooting with an estate. “I have planted 8,000 more trees to go with the 10,000 planted in the Nineties,” says Michael, “and I don’t mind saying I’ll take on any further land that might come up.” There are 12 drives and the shoot takes place every 10 days. We were there to shoot five drives with an expected bag of 150 pheasants as well as the odd partridge.
Fellow guns included Michael’s son Christian and daughter Annamarie, a Jethro-like joke teller, a brace of businessmen, a district councillor and a film producer. Jethro’s friend, Peter Inch, told me that he will sometimes ring in the middle of the night with new jokes or song lines. One recent one was, “If you leave me, walk out backwards so I’ll think you’re coming in.” This humorous decency rather typified the day, I thought.
In the first drive at the Brownstone shoot, Alston Heights, the birds came manageably off gorse with the sunscape of the coast a mile away behind them. I was struck by the grassed, hard tracks and flat standing for the guns. “All these were only put in five years ago,” Michael told me. “In my line of work, I’ve got plenty of people who want to get rid of rubble.” I was also impressed by the shooting of John Verney. “I only ask him because he’s such a good shot,” joked Michael, whose younger brother David and his partner Christine White were beating. “I love the earthiness of it all,” Christine told me.
For the second drive, the Tennis Court Main Drive, birds were pushed towards a release pen behind the guns and were produced in good numbers by the keeper Neil Rodgers and his team of 10 beaters. They were also of a testing height. This is a lovely valley, looking towards the left to the outer reaches of the renowned Gnaton Hall shoot.
I have to admit my heart sometimes sinks when I am next to a lady gun but Annamarie Hockin, with a very straight and steady swing, did splendidly, as did her father back-gunning behind us. There are no pegs and Michael places the guns on each drive according to how much sport they are getting.
Another back gun in on the action was film producer Nick Napier-Bell. If that surname seems familiar, it might be because his brother Simon managed the pop group Wham! in the Eighties. Simon also co-wrote the Dusty Springfield hit You don’t have to say you love me. Both boys were brought to Devon from Ealing as children during the War and, for Nick, that affection for the Westcountry has remained. “You could say I’m the respectable one of the two of us,” he laughed.
The Main Drive is the finest at Brownstone and produced some pretty good shooting from all the guns. There is plenty of space in front of you to see the birds coming and they have the height to test any gun. There was little wind throughout the day and the Brownstone shoot gamebook records only two days of rain on a shooting day in the past 15 years.
The third drive before lunch, after a break for soup, is the Lake Drive and guns are placed in front of the house around an upper and lower lake. The bottom one has a heart-shaped island, which Michael created for his wife as a 25th wedding anniversary gift.
I was placed on a small island on the upper lake, as pretty a stand as you could wish for.
While the birds did not overly oblige here, there was good pheasant shooting on the edges of the drive from both Basil Cane and Duncan Currall, one is a councillor and the other runs the Western Morning News – two important allies for the shooting world.
It was time to enter The Dog and Duck, with its roaring woodburner upstairs, bar area and a delicious lunch cooked by Sandra Vallance of Kilworthy Catering. Her family-run team is a good example of a diversifying Devon farming family who do B&Bs and catering, everything, in fact, so that they can stay on their pretty Dartmoor farm. They use their own meat where possible and treated us to excellent steak and kidney pudding.
Two drives were offered in the afternoon, the first being Nissen Hut. This involved the beaters taking a long wood at a steady pace and there was some good shooting from Christian Hockin who shared his father’s peg. Both Nissen Hut and the last drive of the day, Creacombe Stroll, are akin to drives you would find on a medium-sized, family-run shoot. They require alertness as the birds may not fly in an altogether predictable trajectory.
On Creacombe Stroll I was a walking gun and fell into the company of beater Geoff Lambert who, for many years, has taken his holidays in the Lake District following the Fell packs. When putting up a bird, I asked him to alert me by shouting out the names of famous Fell huntsman.
In this way, I claimed one Peel (cock), a Todhunter (hen) and a Richardson (hen). I hope this is not considered unfair, but it was a marvellous way of knowing that a bird was coming my way and I could distinguish his information above the general cacophony of voices which so often accompanies beaters’ finer efforts.
As well as being a councillor, Basil Cane farms the land at Brownstone. The 100 acres of arable land are used for cattle and sheep grazing but the stock doesn’t arrive ’til the spring and is taken off in the autumn, leaving it as peaceful as possible for the birds. “If you don’t make it happy for the birds, they won’t stay around,” keeper Rodgers told me. Amaz-ingly, for such a well-run shoot, he doubles up his keepering duties with a pretty full-time job as a builder. Always with him is his 12-year-old daughter Elleisha, who is serving an ap-prenticeship of the countryside, as is Carl Wrightson who helps with maintenance.
Also beating are teenage brothers Aaron and Connor Clegg; the former has finished at Sparsholt College and is now an underkeeper for a local shoot and the latter hopes to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Neil teaches them all about pheasant management and he also ex-plains to them that the shot birds are immediately sent to local restaurants.
“The Brownstone shoot is a work in progress,” says Michael modestly, yet this has clearly been a real achievement. “I shoot all around and at Brownstone have encountered some lovely birds and an atmosphere without airs or graces,” Duncan Currall told me.
Days will be available to let for nine guns at Brownstone. What they will get is a lovely setting and plenty of manageable, high-quality birds. Guns travelling from farther away can stay the night at Kitley House, now a hotel. When I stayed there, often as a guest of the Bastard family who still own the house, it was not always easy to find the way upstairs after dinner. I hope things have not changed.
To shoot at Brownstone, call Michael Hockin on 01752 208844 or 01752 830231.
Partridge shooting tips to ensure you can handle an Englishman or red legged partridge with aplomb. Mike Yardley imparts his partridge shooting knowledge. Take heed...
Partridge shooting
Partridge shooting tips can help all guns, not just the novice shot. A day partridge shooting is a day shooting the most English of gamebirds. They may have them in Spain or love partridge shooting in Portugal, they might immigrate from France, but the hedge hopping partridge shows best in our green and pleasant land. So when you do take to the field heed Mike Yardley’s partridge shooting tips for the best day possible.
1. LOCATION
The attitude and the location of the shoot is all important. My preference is usually for the old East Anglian estates. If the estate has the right owner or shooting tenant and a right-thinking gamekeeper.
2. QUALITY OF THE BIRD
Partridges are regularly sold around the same price but birds are definitely not all equal. Try and find those that are worth the trip and the price. You want proper sport, not feathered clay pigeons lobbed over the nearest hedge.
3. KEEP GOOD COMPANY
Finding the right group of people to shoot with is as important as finding the right shoot – you need fellow guns who share your sense of sport: safe, jolly guns who recognise what a good bird is and won’t raise a gun to a poor one unless it’s to administer the coup de grâce.
4. DO YOUR RESEARCH
As they say in the Army, time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted. By taking the time to look into the day you will get the sport you want at he price you need.
5. NUMBERS, WITH QUALITY
I don’t need numbers: 100-250-bird days provide an enjoyable experience as, sometimes, bigger days do not. I shot a 350-bird day a while back at a famous estate and remember thinking the last 100 birds were forced and a waste of my host’s money. But that’s not to say the bigger days are in any way wrong provided the quality is there.
Red legged partridge
6. HOW ARE THE PARTRIDGE PRESENTED?
In British partridge shooting there are two styles of presentation. Partridges are either high, perhaps too high, mini-pheasants in effect, or they’re redlegs shown like greys in the traditional English manner over spinneys and copses. Both are challenging.
Then there are the many shoots where the partridges are somewhere in between, with the birds coming over at 20yd to 35yd. These, too, can give good sport if approached in the right way.
7. SHOOTING REDLEG PARTRIDGE
One of the most challenging partridge-shoots that I have ever been to presented fast, strong, birds at mid height but, critically, at longer (but not silly) range. Shooting with a 28-bore, the birds coming fairly evenly (something so hard to achieve), I had one of the best partridge days of my life. The keeper stood behind me and we took tremendous satisfaction in the longer birds when the wind got behind them. (The smaller-bore gun improved my day and, tightly choked, promoted head-down, hit-or-clean-miss shooting.)
If you do go on a bad shoot, the birds will be too weak and easy and you will get no pleasure from it. You will also perform poorly, because your heart will not be in it. You may have to endure lunch listening to your new-gun neighbour’s interminable and smug account of his extraordinary consistency and kill-to-cartridge ratio. In fact, one of the great truths of shooting is that no one is much interested in anyone else’s shooting unless he is a royal or named Digweed (which amounts to the same thing in our eccentric community). Shooting poor-quality birds is bad for your technique and for the reputation of the sport as well as your pocket. Poor-quality partridges, like poultry pheasants, are not only boring but no test of a sportsman.
Don’t expect high birds where the topography makes it unlikely. Partridges naturally hug the ground rather like grouse but flying slower, somewhere near the 30mph mark usually, whereas grouse and pheasants are up to 10mph faster under normal con-ditions (and sometimes much more). I am not particularly fond of high partridges, anyway. The concept of beating guns with distance irritates. I like to shoot good, strong partridges at sensible ranges presented in the classic English manner or walked-up over pointers – which still has a special charm. Indeed, the partridge was once our most popular gamebird.
8. SHOOTING TRADITIONAL ENGLISH PARTRIDGE
The traditional English way of showing driven partridge, developed in the mid 19th century, suits their natural flight pattern very well.
To do it justice, one should try to take birds well out in front, at 30yd or thereabouts. This is truly challenging wing sport and allows for a second shot. A bird behind, however, at £30 or more a pop, is barely worth the effort and certainly not the money.
To be a decent partridge-shot, keep quiet both when walking to and on the peg. In my experience, partridges are more sensitive to sound than just about any other feathered quarry species. “Live on peg” is often the rule when partridge-shooting (and if in doubt ask).
Keep your wits about you and stay alert and don’t go for early pigeon. Partridges tend to come on rapidly and unexpectedly. You must be able to spring into action quickly.
You must constantly be thinking about safety, too.
With lower birds and more open chokes (not my preference, but commonly used) there is a real need for caution. Think about your arcs of engagement and safety angles carefully before you start shooting.
With English partridges, the cardinal sin was “browning” a covey, in other words not picking your mark but firing into the concentration of birds. With modern redlegs, especially in early season, the problem can be a mass of birds that’s not quite a covey but more than enough to confuse. You must pick your bird every time. Decide on it as a safe and proper shot and “stare it to death” as you bring the muzzles to it.
Partridge-shooting can be a fast business but you must not rush. Good preparation and address will help. When the action starts you may want to have a fairly high ready position, so the gun does not have to travel far to the shoulder. I don’t normally worry greatly about seeing lead deliberately at close and mid ranges provided visual discipline and focus lock are maintained. But there are some caveats.
Close birds (the one’s you shouldn’t bother with and/or come on you suddenly) and tall ones are often missed in front. This is because they are not flying as fast as you might think. Keep the gun high and don’t let yourself get wrong-footed.
I tend to shoot game in Stanbury fashion with front shoulder over front foot (the left as a right-hander) and straight but relaxed back. But occasionally a lower – but shootable – bird will catch me out to the right, most notably when I am flank gun with no one to that side. Not having time to move my feet, I may adopt the Robert Churchill technique of deliberately transferring the weight on to the right foot to facilitate this shot (this is may be practised on a skeet layout on a clay-shooting range on stations six and seven shooting at the “high house” bird).
The height of the birds depends on topography
9. NO NEED FOR LONG BARRELS
Don’t be overgunned. You will not need a long-barrelled, heavy 12-bore. My suggestion is for a handy 12-bore with barrels of conventional length or a 30in 20-bore. Side-by-side or over-and-under does not much matter but the speed of loading of the side-by-sides because of their increased gape may be worth considering. You will not normally want your high-pheasant gun on a partridge shoot.
10. USE THE RIGHT LOAD
Don’t overdo the loads, either. Partridges are small birds and don’t need large shot sizes or extreme payloads (though I must confess to a degree of hypocrisy on this and the previous count as I tend to shoot 5s at just about everything these days through my 32in Guerini 20-bores). Sub-1oz (24g or 25g) of 6 shot will do the job perfectly well and be easy on the shoulder, too. If you use more than an ounce, it is only for confidence.
11. KEEP AN EYE ON LINE
Very few birds are truly straight on. Remember to keep the barrels perpendicular (over-and-unders) or parallel to line (side-by-sides)when they are anything other than true, straight incomers. Or, if you prefer, shoulders parallel to line. On higher birds make an effort to start on the tail feathers or just behind and push through. Note the line, “insert” the muzzles on it and push on holding line as you swing. If you fail to connect on high partridges consider whether you are missing in front (because they are not quite as high as you think). Or, if you are really convinced you are behind, start by deliberate effort with the muzzles a yard or two behind the bird – in other words, about as far behind as you wish to go in front.
12. BE ON RED ALERT
Always stay on red alert when there are birds in the air. Make sure your neighbours realise, as you do, that one must commit to the shot instantaneously as birds break hedges. “After you”, isn’t going to work here because the birds are not “committed” to line. It’s probable that you will “poach” birds that might be your neighbours’. Don’t let this spoil your day but sort it out with the team before the day (the host should do this). Assess the ground. Take a good look at the height of the hedge and if the shot’s safe be prepared to shoot birds that cross your front, too. You will often see them following the line of the hedge (and being missed repeatedly by the rest of the line). If possible, avoid shooting behind; if you have to, because a bird is pricked, be extremely careful and consider where others may be.
Partridge shooting tips in a nutshell
Scan your zone in front, ready for that sudden but well-considered shot or two.
See the first bird, point your gun at its head, push on and fire.
Next customer… Don’t over-swing, always remember the line, always see sky.
If you move your feet, keep returning to centre as soon as you can.
Watch out for the smaller body and different colour of Englishmen and let them fly on.
Don’t overlead but do keep your head down and your eyes focused until you see the bird’s head fall.
Top 10 Pheasant shooting tips for the start of the new season. Make sure your eye is in from the beginning and follow the Editor's best advice for a cracking day on the peg
Pheasant shooting tips for a most enjoyable season
Pheasant shooting tips for the best season’s shooting, courtesy of The Field’s editor, Jonathan Young.
When you arrive at your peg, mark carefully your neighbours’ positions and select the slice of sky that will legitimately hold your birds. Stick to that zone unless it’s to dispatch wounded birds. Shooting birds that another gun has already missed with both barrels – known as “wiping his eye” – is commonplace among friends but do not overdo it with strangers.
Always use a second barrel if the bird is not killed outright with the first. Don’t select another bird until the first is dead.
Don’t take a pheasant that’s too low unless it’s on a back-end, clear-up day. You will either miss, which is embarrassing, or hit, which is worse, as you may smash the bird.
Don’t try and shoot birds that are out of range for your equipment or level of skill. For most people 45 yards is the limit.
Pheasants become harder to despatch cleanly as the season progresses. Many guns switch from 30gm No 6 to 32gm No 5 after Christmas. And make sure your guns fit – the heaviest loads are ineffective if they are in the wrong place.
Unless they are very high, try and take the birds in front, somewhere between 45-70 degrees. The birds are more likely to be hit in the head and neck and there is more time for a controlled second shot.
If they are steeple-scrapers, consider turning sideways and taking them as an overhead crosser – it can be easier to gauge the necessary lead.
Count your birds down on each drive and mark them carefully, especially any runners. Make sure a gundog handler knows exactly what’s to be gathered.
Be courteous to everyone on the shoot, especially the keepers, beaters and gundog handlers. Without them, we could not have driven shooting.
Always take your brace of pheasants home. The essence of our sport is harvesting food for the table.
But don’t forget the partridge too. Make sure you’re best on both by following Mike Yardley’s partridge shooting tips for frenchmen or home grown greys. And for those fortunate enough to be grouse shooting on the moors, stay safe and impress your fellow gun’s with the Editor’s 12 top tips for grouse shooting.
Grouse shooting tips from the Editor of The Field. Keep safe on the moor and be great on the grouse
Grouse Shooting tips
Grouse shooting tips are as essential mid way through the season as they are at the start. Grouse have flown, the sudden euphoria of the twelfth has subsided. But eyes have been honed and to make your mark on the moor you need to be more aware than ever. These essential pointers from The Field’s Editor will help keep you on track, and form the foundations of a successful and safe day.
DON’T hit the booze, either the night before or on the day. Alcohol slows your reactions and grouse shooting requires full concentration, both to make a bag and be safe.
DON’T wear a white shirt. White acts as signal – think rabbit scuts and pigeon wing-bars – and you don’t want to alert the grouse to your presence in the butt.
DON’T stare at the heather for 30 minutes before the grouse arrive. Your eyes will tire. Try and relax until the drive really starts.
DO Wear yellow shooting glasses, both to protect your eyes and to enable you to pick out the grouse quicker against the background.
DO Stay still in the butt. Like pigeon, grouse can spot movement and take avoiding action instantly.
DON’T try and take the birds 60 yards in front. A few full-time grouse shots can do this but the majority of decent shots wait until the birds are well in range. Think of when you’d take pigeon coming into a decoy pattern and you won’t go far wrong. Better to drop one or two out of a covey than fire four unsuccessful shots.
Having said that, if the grouse are not coming to you, but crossing your bows 40 yards out, then DO go for the shot.
DO mark the position of the flankers carefully, especially if you’re in one of the three end butts. Position yourself in the corner of the butt nearest the flankers and concentrate on the safe area to your right or left, according to which end of the line you’re standing.
DON’T take singletons or pairs going straight to your neighbour. You won’t win friends so doing. But do try and drop the back birds of a covey going towards your neighbour.
DO mark your birds carefully and keep a running tally with your loader. Don’t expect him to do this, as he’ll be busy loading.
If your butt has a very short horizon, it’s a downwind drive and the wind is strong, DO consider taking the birds behind throughout the drive.
Do make certain you thank the beaters, pickers-up and keepers whenever the opportunity arises. Grouse shooting is a team sport and they will have put in huge effort to provide you with sport.
Make sure to thank the beaters and pickers up whenever possible.
Evening wear can be subtle and understated, or peacock proud. Which will it be for the hunt ball?
Evening wear has always been a simple affair for men. Black tie doesn’t involve a constant quizzical round of questions – short or long? Jewels or paste? Black tie means just that for the fortunate male, who often pulls out Uncle Bill’s best from the wardrobe and heads off to the highlife without a backward glance.
That is why there are so many ill-fitting jackets, cummerbunds and trousers on the loose at the hunt ball. But evening wear is changing, and with it the tendency to peacock remains strong.
It can be trying for gentlemen of a traditional or less imaginative bent (stick to tails). But for those who like to cut a swathe in the style stakes as well as on the floor then smoking jackets, red dinner jackets, embroidered numbers with nehru collars, the flash of a jazzy shoe or the hint of something midnight blue are fair game. And delightful if worn well.
WHITE TIE AND TAILS
Informality may be rife, the tie pursuing the hat and gloves into virtual extinction, but the countryman will always look best in his bib and tucker. It is standard requirement for grand shooting house parties, balls and livery company dinners, and camouflages the less than perfect figure with ease. It can lengthen the leg, cinch the torso and cut a dash that will snare even the flightiest of birds.
The tailless coat started to appear in the 1830s but had to be taken up by a man of fashion to become universally acceptable. Even Edward VII balked at wearing one at Windsor, and George V refused to wear it in front of guests. But the Prince of Wales, the future Duke of Windsor, regularly donned this shorter style. When he wore his midnight blue barathea, shawl-collared jacket and soft-collared shirt the world followed suit.
He was also the progenitor of the backless waistcoat – a much cooler alternative for the nightclub.
“It’s a fashion thing,” says Richard Fuller of Bernard Weatherill. “About nine out of 10 dinner jackets we sell are single-breasted now.” A ready-to-wear dinner suit starts at £4,250.
Johnny Allen of Huntsman, says: “The classic one button, single lapel with corded silk (grosgrain) facing in black barathea is timeless and elegant.” The starting price for ready to wear is £1,575. “Single-breasted jackets are fashionable with peaked lapels and our shawl collars are made wide, about 31⁄2in to 4in.
AVOID LOOKING LIKE A WAITER
A 2in collar can confuse one with the waiter,” says Kristian Robson of Oliver Brown. “Although we do sell more of the classic double-breasted dinner jacket than anything else.” The shawl collar, inherited from the smoking jacket, suits only a soft shirt collar. Peaked lapels, a direct descendent of the tailcoat, are correctly paired with a detachable wing collar, but turndowns are now commonly worn. The waistband should be covered so the traditional shawl-collared waistcoat or cummerbund – with folds always pointing upwards – can be worn, although the habit is falling into disuse. “We are one of the few companies left selling the evening waistcoat,” continues Robson.
All these sartorial rules are fruitless if the opportunity for donning formal dress after 6pm is rapidly dwindling. Suppers are now in the kitchen and only the grander house parties specify a dress code. But it is a licence to make the best of it when they do. Far from being bored by the rigours of a more formal invitation, well turned out chaps are delighted at the prospect.
“Men like dressing up,” says Beaufort fieldmaster Rupert Sturgis. “A navy smoking jacket with buff facings and brass buttons (the Beaufort colours) is perfect to wear in the evening. It is cut like a smoking or dinner jacket and was very popular with the older generation.” The Connaught Square Squirrel Hunt sports stylish midnight blue velvet coats with shocking pink silk lining and they are used as dinner jackets when appropriate.
SMOKING JACKETS AS EVENING WEAR
The traditional evening jacket is frogged, sometimes quilted and anything but plain. The smoking jacket and velvet dinner jacket are now roundly accepted at house parties, cocktail parties and shooting parties – the lodge a last bastion of the Edwardian dressing tradition.
It is now a form of rural black tie, worn with no tie, silk shirt, dress trousers and slippers. Artist and sportsman Will Garfit sports a fabulous cinnamon brown velvet jacket with brown silk facings and yellow gold frogging that belonged to his Dragoon officer grandfather. “It makes its rare appearances at only very special shooting parties,” he says. “But is an enormous pleasure to wear.” It is more comfortable and adaptable than a dinner jacket.
“The velvet jacket is increasingly popular,” says Robson. “We make our own silk velvet in seven colours. I warn people that it will look like a rag until it is on, but it is fantastic, although it wears more than cotton velvet.” In the latter, Oliver Brown offers countless shades.
“There are so many options. Frogging and facing, even quilting or just plain. People do come in with ones they’ve bought on Portobello Road for us to refresh. My navy smoking jacket has three rows of braid, pink lining, frogging and facing and is a superb conversation starter.” A bespoke version from Huntsman starts at £3,800.
HIGHLAND EVENING DRESS? TARTAN TREWS
Velvet slippers make a dashing accompaniment when dressing for dinner. The Drummond evening slipper in grey or burgundy brushed velvet from Fin’s is bound to cut a dash on a rural foot, at £175. A suede version is elegant in town. Oliver Brown has myriad designs starting at £95.
Tartan trousers are also a welcome addition to the house party or lodge dinner, perfect with a smoking jacket. A well-placed northern source, cautions: “Tartan trews are tighter fitting than tartan trousers, with a more military cut. Neither should be worn with a morning coat, but they do offer a less ostentatious alternative to the kilt when south of the Highlands.”
The cost of bespeaking the full fig can be daunting. However, acquiring standard issue white tie requires little more than a generous (similarly sized) relative, or the kit-hunter’s nose for a country auction or well-stocked dress agency. Addresses and hunting grounds are jealously guarded.
Savile Row agrees that the rot has set in. Johnny Allen of Huntsman admits that making bespoke tailcoats is “a very rare experience, perhaps for a few ambassadors and some conductors”. John Ramsden of Ede & Ravenscroft in Oxford confirms it deals mostly in dinner suits, not tailcoats – and if wafting round the dreaming spires is no longer an excuse for a new piece of evening kit then we are facing a decline. Elegant tailcoats percolate through generations but can present problems.
DRESSING FOR THE HUNT BALL
The Twenties and Thirties heyday left a great clothing legacy but, “the men were shorter, the tails were longer and the trousers much higher,” says Fuller. “A newer coat will be cut in line with the natural waistline, so the coat is longer and the tails shorter and it is more in proportion.” Falling waistlines coupled with old tailcoats present a problem – how best to bridge the gap.
Some hang on to the Regency trend for longer waistcoats and maintain that tradition is on their side. Others curse at the sight of a couple of inches of white. Military and bespoke tailor Geoffrey Golding says: “The trousers are high-waisted, with two sets of braid each side of the trouser. The waistcoat should not show below the front of the jacket.” A bespoke two-piece from GD Golding is £1,585. “Trousers long enough to match the older tails are hard to find without going bespoke,” Fuller admits.
Elegant individuals still stalk the streets of London en route to livery company dinners in full fig and flowing cape, and Lincoln’s Inn keeps a close eye on the tradition.
The Caledonian Ball upholds rigorous standards and Court dress still involves top smarts but it is the jolliest hunt balls that uphold the line most vigorously. The explosion of colourful tails is delightfully tribal. Collars and facings may be velvet or corded silk and some hunts specify waistcoat colour.
A scarlet coat with pale blue silk facings marks you as a Quorn thruster. A white waistcoat and scarlet coat sees you south of the Thames, whereas the distinctive blue with buff facings means you’re in Beaufort country. Fuller reveals: “At Weatherill’s we have a tatty old book which is known as ‘The Bible’. It contains the facings and collar colours of all the hunt evening tail coats we have made over the years.” They start at £3,200. Oliver Brown‘s hunt tails start at £495.
“I will wear my hunt tails at our own hunt ball but tend to wear black tie when I’m visiting other packs” says occasional Warwickshire fieldmaster Henry Jackson. “I wear my grandfather’s tails but it is difficult finding white-tie shirts and waistcoats as only a few places stock them.”
An elegantly dressed sportsman from Border country was recently gifted a pair of hunt tails from a gentleman retiring from the ball scene. “If you have them then you should wear them,” he says.
REGIMENTAL EVENING WEAR
Wearing mess kit at civilian events is a point of contention, although most agree that the younger (and footloose) blade is more likely to don finery. Military tailor Golding sensibly refuses to be drawn on which regiment displays the most resplendent kit.
“There is no deviation from pattern,” he says. “The mess kits are made to a design and they are all very smart.” The cavalry units do seem to have the upper hand. “Of course each regiment thinks their own kit is by far the smartest,” says an ex-Life Guard, “and generally the Household Divisions steal a march.”
“Hmm…Dragoon regiments definitely have an edge,” says an ex-Lancer. “They have more braiding.” The jury is out but whichever regimental beast you find yourself standing next to it is quite likely that you will start to feel like a peahen in comparison to these peacocks.
Whatever dash you choose to cut you would do best to bear in mind this sage advice: “The right choice is the equivalent of the twinkle in your eye… just make sure it doesn’t turn into a wink.”
This trout and fennel fishcake recipe uses both smoked and fresh trout. The secret to a really good fishcake is plenty of fish and a good, crunchy crumb. The perfect supper dish.
Fresh trout. Delicious, nutritious and ready to cook
Trout and fennel fishcake recipe
Serves 4-6
This recipe uses both fresh and smoked trout, but you could use all of one, or all of the other if that was all you had to hand. The secret to a really good fishcake is plenty of fish and a good, crunchy crumb. I find stale ciabatta, dried slightly and then whizzed in the Magimix, makes the best. If you’re feeling energetic, make a Hollandaise sauce to go with these – it’s naughty but very, very nice. I like the contrast of smoked and fresh fish in these, and the slight aniseedy bite of the fennel.
■ 225g (8oz) mashed potato
■ 25g (1oz) butter
■ 1 small onion, finely chopped
■ 1 small bulb of fennel, finely chopped
■ 150ml (1⁄4 pint) béchamel sauce: 25g (1oz) plain flour; 25g (1oz) butter; 150ml (1⁄4 pint) milk
■ 175g (6oz) smoked trout fillet
■ 175g (6oz) fresh cooked trout fillet
■ 1 hardboiled egg, coarsely chopped
■ 1 tbsp chopped parsley
■ 1 tsp lemon juice
■ Salt and pepper
■ Plain flour for dredging
■ 1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp milk
■ Undyed breadcrumbs made from stale ciabatta, dried slowly and whizzed in the Magimix until fine
■ Butter and oil for frying
Make the mashed potato.
Melt the butter until foaming.
Sweat the onion and fennel in the butter until soft and translucent.
Make the béchamel sauce (melt butter, tip in flour and fry for one minute on low heat, stirring, take off the heat and beat in the milk, put back on low heat and stir constantly until thick).
Mix together the potato, béchamel, trout, egg, onion and fennel mix, parsley, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
Divide into 10 to 12 small cakes and dredge with flour.
Now dip each cake separately in the beaten egg and milk, and then coat with the breadcrumbs.
Fry in a deepish mixture of hot butter and oil until golden on each side.
Serve with a crisp green salad and hot ciabatta rolls or new potatoes (and Hollandaise sauce if wanted).
Is your freezer now laden with grouse? Traditional roast grouse is still the best way to eat mid season birds. Just follow our secret cooking technique for the perfect results every time
Traditional roast grouse recipe
A TRADITIONAL ROAST GROUSE RECIPE
Have you been grouse shooting? Now that the season is in full swing fresh birds are in great supply and the best way to cook the bird is by using our traditional roast grouse recipe. There is also a chance that the freezer will have started to look rather grouse laden.
THE SECRET TRICK TO THE PERFECT ROAST GROUSE
If that is the case, do not worry. A frozen grouse is just as good used in the traditional roast grouse recipe as a fresh bird. They key is in the cooking, and a neat trick to ensure a succulent bird, even if they have been stored, or are a little older.
Mike Robinson’s secret trick is not a recipe but a technique. I have used this on grouse from the freezer. It works a treat.
There is nothing worse than a dry old grouse, or any gamebird for that matter. Start by bringing the stock to the boil, then turn it down low. Remove the legs from the birds (we generally save them up and cook them as an appetiser) and plunge the crowns in the simmering stock. This captures the moisture in the meat and ensures a perfect result.
Remove them after 10 minutes and allow them to cool a little. Next, brush them with melted butter, season well with salt and pepper, and shove a bundle of thyme up each bird’s bum. Then brown them well in a pan and roast them in a 180°C/350°F/
Gas Mark 4 oven for six minutes.
COOKING A YOUNG BIRD THE TRADITIONAL WAY
There is no need to mess about with a young grouse. A traditional roast grouse recipe consists of roast grouse, bread sauce and game chips. This triumverate of traditional ingredients is the highest pinnacle of sporting scoff.
This traditional roast grouse recipe respects the main ingredient, grouse – which doesn’t need to be dallied with - and lets the natural flavours come through.
Despite the robust smell of the bird, the meat is not as strong as you would think. It is totally individual and delicious, and very healthy (apart from the wine you have to drink with it, of course). There is no need to hang grouse before cooking a traditional roast grouse recipe.
WHAT TYPE OF GROUSE?
If you are have been grouse shooting then you will know if you bird is old or young. It is considered best to roast young grouse. If you have an old grouse see below for Mike Robinson’s chef’s trick for roasting old grouse successfully.
A TRADITIONAL ROAST GROUSE RECIPE
(best for young birds)
Serves 4
Ingredients
■ 4 young grouse
■ Salt and pepper
■ 8 crushed juniper berries
■ 8 sprigs thyme
■ 8 rashers streaky bacon
■ A little fat for roasting
■ A couple of handfuls root vegetables
For the bread sauce
■ 400ml (131⁄2fl oz) milk
■ 1 white onion studded with 5 whole cloves
■ 4 slices white bread, crushed
■ A good pinch mixed ground spice
■ Salt and pepper
For the game chips
■ 1 large frying potato, such as Maris Piper
■ Oil for deep frying
■ Salt
For the gravy
■ 200ml (7fl oz) veal/game stock
■ A good splash sloe gin
■ 100ml (31⁄2fl oz) light red wine
To garnish
■ Local watercress
■ Home-made or high-quality redcurrant jelly
How to cook the traditioanl roast grouse recipe
To make the bread sauce
Bring the milk to the boil with the onion in it. Let this infuse for about 20 minutes, then remove the onion and add the breadcrumbs, spice and seasoning.
The sauce needs to be of a loose, dropping consistency. Set aside and keep warm.
To cook the game chips
Peel the potato and slice it very thinly (NB: this should be done before the grouse is roasted). Rinse it thoroughly in cold water two or three times to remove as much starch as possible (this makes the potato crisps crispier). Pat dry, and deep-fry for two to three minutes, until golden brown. Season with a little table salt and set aside.
To cook the grouse
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Season inside and out, put the juniper berries inside the cavities of the birds, tuck a sprig of thyme under each leg and lay two rashers of streaky bacon over the breast of each grouse.
Colour in a roasting tray with a little clarified butter or duck fat. When sealed on all sides, roast for between 16 and 20 minutes, depending on size. Remove from tray and keep warm. Add the root vegetables to the roasting tray. Tip any juices from the birds into the tray as well as any offal – this will add to the flavour – and scrape up any sediment
that’s in the tray. Add the stock, sloe gin and red wine. Simmer gently for five to six minutes, pass through a fine sieve into a saucepan, and check the seasoning.
HOW TO PRESENT A TRADITIONAL ROAST GROUSE
Carve the breasts and legs. Arrange the streaky bacon next to each bird on a warm dinner plate. Put a pile of game chips next to the bird with a sprig or two of watercress. Pour any excess juices into the sauce, then pour the sauce over the birds and serve with warmed bread sauce and a pot of redcurrant jelly.
NB: keep all the carcasses for making good game stock; you can always stockpile bones in the freezer and make a decent batch when you have a good quantity.
AN OLD GROUSE CAN BE ROASTED TOO
Mike Robinson has an interesting technique for an old bird. The traditional roast grouse recipe is not the only way to cook the bird. You can roast grouse in a different way.
An old grouse roasted well
Serves 4
■ 1 litre (13⁄4 pints) chicken stock
■ 4 grouse
■ 100g (31⁄2oz) butter
■ Sea salt and black pepper
■ 4 large bunches thyme
This is not so much a recipe as a technique. There is nothing worse than a dry old grouse, or any gamebird for that matter. Start by bringing the stock to the boil, then turn it down low. Remove the legs from the birds (we generally save them up and cook them as an appetiser) and plunge the crowns in the simmering stock. This captures the moisture in the meat and ensures a perfect result.
Remove them after 10 minutes and allow them to cool a little. Next, brush them with melted butter, season well with salt and pepper, and shove a bundle of thyme up each bird’s bum. Then brown them well in a pan and roast them in a 180°C/350°F/
Gas Mark 4 oven for six minutes.
Take them out and rest for five minutes before carving. Serve with fried garlic potatoes, bread sauce, beans and some very expensive red wine, perhaps a burgundy.
The pheasant Normandy recipe is a classic. And if you have a bottle of Calvados in the house then don't think twice. Splash it in and set it alight for added yumminess.
The Top 10 best pheasant recipes need the right game to start with...
This Pheasant Normandy recipe has been adapted from Julia Drysdale’s Classic Game Cookery. It is an oldie, but definitely a goodie. Although it might be dismissed as a casserole do think again before consigning it to cookery Siberia. It is well worth trying.
The ingredients for pheasant Normandy are delicious. I found this recipe originally in Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking but this version is adapted from Julia Drysdale. The combination of apple, cider and cream with pheasant is always a winner, especially now that cider has become so popular again. It’s an oldie but a goodie and if you have a bottle of Calvados hidden in the house, a splash of that added and set alight (perfect for cooks with pyromaniac tendencies) makes it even more yummy.
Serves 4
■ 6-8 Cox’s apples
■ 2 pheasants
■ 200g (7oz) butter
■ 2 tbsp calvados if you have any
■ 1 lemon, halved
■ 2 large sprigs rosemary
■ 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon powder
■ 1⁄2-1 tsp celery salt according to your taste
■ Ground black pepper
■ 400ml (3⁄4 pint) cider
■ 4 tbsp double cream
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Peel, core and slice the apples into quarters. Brown pheasants all over in 100g of the butter in a flameproof, cast-iron casserole with a lid. If you are using calvados, warm it in a separate pan, pour over the birds and light it immediately. Take care to stand well back as singed eyebrows add nothing to this dish.
Now take the birds out of the pan and stuff them with the lemon halves and the sprigs of rosemary. Tip the pan juices into the cavities too, making sure none spills out; set aside. Now add the rest of the butter to the pan and fry the apples, sprinkling the cinnamon over them. When slightly softened, return the pheasants to the casserole, breast side down. Sprinkle over the celery salt and pepper, then pour over the cider and cream.
Cover and cook for 50 minutes to an hour, until done. Serve with boiled potatoes, chopped parsley and a green salad.
This Parmesan pheasant recipe is perfect for a romantic dinner for two. Easy to prepare it is zingy and delicious, and a superb way to use up old ends of Parmesan.
A smart retrieve of a hen pheasant
My daughter, Lucy, adapted this from one of Jamie Oliver’s recipes in Ministry of Food. It’s great for using up old ends of parmesan which usually get thrown away – and she says that the bit where you bash the breasts flat with a frying pan is therapeutic. Both adults and children adore this; it’s like a sort of pheasant saltimbocca (translating as “jumps in the mouth”).
It is probably one of the easiest of the top 10 best pheasant recipes to make, and ideal for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with the rest of the bird.
Parmesan Pheasant Breasts with Crispy Ham
Serves 4
■ 4 pheasant breasts
■ Black pepper
■ 4-6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
■ 100g (31⁄2oz) grated parmesan (if you are using old ends, grate in a Magimix)
■ 8 slices prosciutto crudo or air-dried ham
■ Good olive oil
Carefully score the underside of each pheasant breast in a criss-cross fashion with a small, sharp knife. Lay the breasts side by side on a large chopping board (or do this in two lots of two). Season each with pepper.
Combine the chopped sage and parmesan and sprinkle evenly over the pheasant. Lay two slices of prosciutto on each breast, overlapping them slightly, and drizzle with good olive oil. Now, cover the breasts and board with a layer of cling film, take a frying pan and whack them until they’re about 1cm thick.
Heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, then carefully transfer the breasts to it, putting them in ham-side down. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, giving an extra 30 seconds to ensure the ham is crispy.
Serve with lemon wedges and a crisp salad for a lighter dish or new potatoes dressed with olive oil and mint. Great cold picnic food, too.
Choosing the best luxury sports watch needn't be difficult. Just decide whether you'd like to be under water or behind the wheel.
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Millie Miglia 2013
The luxury sports watch, chronometer or timepiece is an essential piece of kit for the field. The dress watch looks elegant adorning a wrist, but don a luxury sports watch and you’re part of a clan. So choose your sporting affiliation and wear it on your wrist. Will it be diving or driving?
WHERE DID THE LUXURY SPORTS WATCH BEGIN?
“The ability to be submerged is the hallmark of the sporting watch,” says David Hagon of David Duggan watches. “Nowadays we automatically assume watches are waterproof, but that development only occurred with Rolex’s Oyster case in the Thirties,” he continues. “It was the first real way of keeping the mechanism dry. But it was the look of the Rolex Submariner that was the springboard for the evolution of the sporting watch and you can see this heritage in many modern versions.
“A sporting timepiece has a ruggedness that allows the wearer to take on sporting activities, and from the waterproof casing the sporting watch morphed into different spheres: a dual time zone for pilots, depth gauges for divers, chronographs for motorsport.”
David Duggan buys, sells and trades pre-owned watches. “There is a massive demand for the Patek Philippe Aquanaut,” says Hagon, “and 90% of our business is now Patek Philippe and Rolex.”
The Rolex Oyster 40mm Everose Cosmograph Daytona (£19,670) is a prime example of matching sport to purpose. The engraved, black, ceramic bezel has a tachymetric scale and the chronograph enables drivers to measure average speeds of up to 400mph. The Daytona celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and, like so many aging, racing drivers, appears more covetable with age. It fits sleekly with Rolex’s role as Official Timekeeper of Formula 1, whose season kicks off on 13 March.
CHOPARD AND THE MILLE MIGLIA
Those who are happy to trade power for panache favour the Mille Miglia held in northern Italy from 1927 to 1957 as a speed trial on open roads and, since 1958, as a three-day rally. Cars from 1927 to 1957 only may compete and a time-measurement instrument is a vital piece of kit. Since 1988 Chopard has sponsored the Mille Miglia. “Chopard’s co-president, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, is a collector of historical cars and a keen competitor in classic rallies. He drives his own car in the Mille Miglia, sometimes accompanied by his wife or his good friend, Jacky Ickx, as co-driver,” according to the company.
Each May a new Mille Miglia chronograph is released, and the 2013 steel Mille Miglia (£4,480) is a self-winding chronograph with 24- hour dual-time indication and date display. Redesigned so it fits comfortably on the wrist, the rubber strap echoes the Sixties with its Dunlop-tyre tread. Super-LumiNova allows the watch to be read at night while weaving through the Italian hills, particularly useful when night driving your Maserati. For those with an appreciation of La Dolce Vita, this chronograph is ideal.
FEEL THE NEED…FOR SPEED
The Omega Speedmaster, introduced in 1957, also channels Italian influences. The dashboards of Italian cars were used as inspiration for the original dial, which retains a clean, elegant façade in its current incarnation, the Omega Speedmaster Racing (£2,960), and comes in grey, grey and yellow or grey and red. It was the first chronograph to reposition the tachymetric scale from dial to bezel.
Omega is the official timekeeper (for the 26th time) at the Olympic Games in Sochi. “We have dedicated special watches to previous editions of the Games and many of them have become highly sought-after pieces,” says Stephen Urquhart, president of Omega. “The Seamaster Planet Ocean (£4,170) is inspired by the colours of the Russian flag.” This special edition is water resistant to
60 bar/600 metres.
UNDERWATER EXPEDITIONS
Blancpain’s X Fathoms (£28,260), based on the 1953 original, claims to be the highest-performing mechanical diving watch with good reason. It measures depth to 90 metres and boasts a decompression valve, a central depth indicator, maximum depth reached memory and a retrograde five-minute counter for decompression stops. For the serious diver Blancpain has created a masculine and impressive timepiece. The precision engineering is equally appealing to landlubbers, the strap being comprised of 14 articulated parts to ensure a perfect fit.
“The Longines HydroConquest Sport (£1,450) is for divers and water-sports enthusiasts,” says Walter von Känel, president of Longines. “It has a screw-in crown and screw-down back, water resistance of 30 bar, unidirectional rotating bezel and the Longines exclusive column-wheel chronograph movement.” The easy-to-read dial is suitably sporting and the rubber strap will cope with tough conditions.
The relaunch of IWC’s Aquatimer upped the bar. “Our vision for the Aquatimer was to take this collection to a more advanced level and to ensure we make a statement towards luxury divers’ watches,” says creative director Christian Knoop. The Aquatimer Chronograph Edition “Expedition Charles Darwin” (£8,250) is elegant yet supremely functional, less bulky but with a nod to the 1967 original.
Audemars Piguet’s Offshore Royal Oak (£534,560) in titanium with black, ceramic bezel has a transparent, sapphire-crystal dial and display back so the exquisite workings can be seen. It is the apex of sporting timepieces, retaining its sporting function with stand-out workmanship and incorporating a grand complication. As its name suggests, there is nothing even remotely pedestrian about this chronograph.
Whether you’re taken by the glamour of the track or the mystery of the deep, both provide timepieces fit for the field.
WATCHES SPACE
The Breitling Super Avenger Military
Racing and diving provide multiple options for the wrist but, for those who prefer flight to fright, Breitling produces excellent aviation- inspired models. The carbon-based, black coating of the Breitling Super Avenger Military (£5,690) channels the “stealth” look and could easily slip into covert if necessary.
LUXURY SPORTS WATCH FOR HER
In 1927 Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel wearing a Rolex Oyster. She managed the crossing in 10 hours and, at the end, the watch was still working. For a sporting multi-purpose ladies’ watch it is hard to beat the Oyster, an elegant yet tough companion for anyone hunting, shooting or fishing. The current incarnation combines coloured dials and leather straps: green, cognac, blue, cherry or chocolate. Yes, please!
It costs £15,800 incl VAT (white gold with cherry red) and £14,800 incl VAT (yellow gold with green).
