Shooting Times & Country Magazine

23 April 2014

I’ve had a busy week: on Saturday, I had a shooting lesson from Clive Jeffery at Holland & Holland, where I’m taking part in the Silver Feathers Challenge. On Sunday, I was at Bisley — I’m joining the British Sporting Rifle Club, so it was a chance to see the running deer and boar experts in action. On Monday I tested woodland optics with Charles Smith-Jones for next week’s issue, and on Tuesday I was roe stalking with contributor Tim Weston. We saw a few, but didn’t manage to get in on one… still a better way to start the day than on the London Underground. Perdix’s piece on the Natural England consultation (p.51) made me think about how lucky we are in this country. Perdix mentions that scientists in the Netherlands have seen jackdaws chasing lapwing chicks. My parents live in the east of the Netherlands and as a child, I remember picking lapwing eggs on 1 April — then still allowed. They were delicious. Lapwings are becoming rare in our area, due in large part to predation and modern farming methods. But in the Netherlands it is illegal to control weasels, polecats, stoats, jays, magpies, jackdaws and feral cats. The laws on this are simply passed — there is no consultation, no questioning and no chance to put forward the case for conservation. So don’t squander your right to have a say in what happens. Speak out, and make sure that you are heard on the General Licence consultation (www. naturalengland.org.uk).