At the tender age of 24, Max Stuart became head keeper
at Stradsett, the 2000-acre estate near Kings Lynn, Norfolk, of Sir
Jeremy Bagge.
"I dropped Max in at the deep end," says Sir Jeremy. "It's a
decision never to be regretted."
The estate is mainly arable with 25 acres of grass and 150 acres
of woodland. Max was brought up in a cottage on the estate and,
from the age of 11or 12, he did "bits and bobs" for the head keeper
Gerald Barfield. It set him on the path of a career in
gamekeeping.
"I was really interested in the countryside and wildlife and
liked being outdoors no matter what the weather," explains Max, now
28. "I found it amazing how much a keeper can see and notice."
Eventually he did two years' work experience under the head
keeper. "I couldn't afford to offer him a job at the time and he
went off to college," explains Sir Jeremy.
After a year at Wisbech and two years at
De Montfort University,
Lincoln, studying game, wildlife and habitat management, Max
worked elsewhere .
Then Sir Jeremy heard he had been made redundant and offered Max
a job on the estate with a view to taking over from the head keeper
when he retired. Mr Barfield's retirement, after 32 years, came
earlier than expected.
"I said, 'Here you are Max, see what you make of it'," recalls
Sir Jeremy. "Gerald Barfield was very good - he stood right back
but would give advice if Max asked for it. He has since said that
Max has done a good job with the shoot."
The shoot is a mix of family and let days - "not seriously
commercial," as Sir Jeremy puts it, "but it's a fact people like
coming here. Max keeps a quiet shoot on the walkie talkies and he
won't stand any nonsense."
Being local, Max knows a lot of youngsters. "If they seem
interested I try and get them involved with brushing (beating) and
tell them to bring a friend. I try to keep them with me so that
they can see what a shoot day is all about," he says.
Bought in as poults, pheasant, French partridge and some duck
are released. Max has increased shoot days from 14 to 20-22 with
bags for driven days of around 200 - occasionally 275 - and casual
spinney days of around 100 head.
There's evening flighting on the 26-acre lake that also draws in
wild pintail, pochard, tufted duck and widgeon. Max has increased
to 25 the number of drives he has to choose from and has reshaped
some of the original ones to good effect. Return on birds is around
40% for pheasant and partridge, 85-90% for duck.
"I can't see much more expansion as there is a limit to what you
can do and I don't believe in swamping the ground with birds," says
Max, adding that two fast roads by the estate take a toll on the
birds equivalent to another day's shooting.
However, he intends to try to introduce grey partridge under a
fostering system. "I will work with the Game Conservancy on that
and Sir Jeremy will back me all the way," says Max.
He keeps a tight reign on vermin to benefit the farm, game and
wildlife. "If you want wild birds to survive, you have to be hard
on things that will take their eggs," he says.
This season he will be working with the
Game and Wildlife Conservation
Trust on French Partridge research. "They will put some radio
trackers on the red legs and see what they get up to," explains
Max.
He encourages the birds to over-winter by keeping the covers up
and feeding until May. "It's good for the game and for all the
little birds too," he says.
He has expanded most of the pheasant release pens and changed
all the watering to automatic systems rather than troughs. He has
recently made 18 new partridge pens complete with nipple
drinkers.
Max is very conscious of the environment and conservation and
has tried to spread the word by helping man a CLA stand at the
Royal Norfolk Spring Fair.
He has fought his corner to retain set-aside strips on the
estate, in danger of being ploughed up, and has gained extra plots
that have proved too wet to farm
He works all the game plots himself and is providing more game
cover. He works with
Kings seed merchants to select wild flower, pollen and nectar
mixes to encourage greater insect life and a better start for game
chicks and other wildlife and has brassica and other cover crop
seed mixes specially designed to suit the estate.
He has cut "paths" through set-aside plots to provide areas
where the birds can get out of the long grass to dry off and is
monitoring the benefit of this against other sites where the grass
has been left uncut.
Stradsett is already in a tree-planting scheme and, where
woodlands have been cleared, hundreds of quick-growing bushes have
been planted to act as windbreaks.
The estate is going into Entry Level Stewardship and Max has had
a hand in the planning for this. The adviser, Sir Jeremy, farm
staff and Max spent several hours discussing the possibilities.
"We all put our ideas forward and I am really excited at the
benefits it will bring to the shoot and wildlife. It will be
managed just as I could have hoped and will benefit everything,"
says Max.
"It's a privilege to be a keeper and I look forward to every day
because no day is ever the same," says Max. "I am lucky, I have a
good boss who has put his trust in me."
The winner of the Gamekeeper of the Year competition
will be announced in Farmlife and here on FWi on 24
July.
For more details of the CLA Game Fair, go towww.gamefair.co.uk