Field Day

No sign of the acrimony dying down between the Countryside Alliance and the League Against Cruel Sports over claims of foul play.

The latest issue which has seen the pro-hunting Alliance and the anti-hunting League lock horns was the slot on Radio 4's news programme, Today, asking listeners to nominate the law they'd most like to repeal. The one that came out on top was the hunting ban.

The League immediately accused the Alliance of "manipulating" the vote by using its "propaganda machine". To which the Alliance reacted by saying such suggestions were simply "sour grapes" and that the law banning hunting was "ridiculous".

Personally, I'm no fan of hunting (and contrary to popular belief, plenty of farmers aren't either) but I can't help but think the Alliance has got a point in this particular instance. I mean, it wasn't like they rigged the vote by manipulating the phonelines; all they did was encouraged people to vote. Surely, that's the whole point of a lobbying organisation.

Alliance boss Simon Hart and League head honcho Douglas Batchelor weren't on each other's Christmas card list, so the bad blood is nothing new. The Today show, meanwhile, has gone rather quiet over the whole issue. Maybe it's decided "No comment" sometimes obviously is the best response when the slurry hits the fan!

Today's an important day in the fishing calendar - the Scottish salmon fishing season begins on the River Tay.

It's a day steeped in tradition. In years gone by, a bottle of whisky was broken over the bow of the first boat to 'bless' the water.

Nowadays, however, the whisky is poured into a shallow drinking cup with two handles known as a quaich then splashed on the boat.

Tomorrow will be the last day's pheasant shooting of the season for a lot of people.

The sport has always been popular among farmers, landowners and the well-to-do city set, but it's soaring in popularity.

A recent survey in The Business magazine of 14,000 people reveals it's now the seventh most popular recreation among company directors - almost as liked as gardening.

"Though golf remains the directors' favourite recreation, shooting has come from nowhere and continues to its rise, despite the politically correct climate," says Allister Heath, the magazine's editor.

Maybe one reason is that it's less embarrassing being bad at shooting than at golfing. I mean, it's less obvious if you miss a bird flying overhead than if you miss the ball on the first tee.

These captains of industry won't, however, all get the chance to bag a few brace of pheasant tomorrow as it's traditional on a lot of shoots for the gamekeeper, his pals and the beaters to do the shooting on the season's last day.

Maybe they'll have to spend a day in the garden. It is a good time of year to prune the roses, after all...

Yes, OK, I know it’s February - but I’ve got a boxload of them I want to get rid of.

Those nice people at Merlin Unwin books sent me a load of fabulous fishing calendars a while back so here's your chance to win one - they're full of lots of great images and quotes about fishing.

All you’ve got to do is send me a quirky fact about fish or fishing (just post it below) and if I use it on Field Day then you’ll win a calendar. They’re worth £12.99 apiece so it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

One of my less romantic friends has just told me he’s going fishing tonight to avoid having to do anything with his other half for Valentine’s Day.

It’s being billed as the biggest thing to happen in the falconry world since 1937.

That was, I’m reliably informed, when the British walked away with the Prize of Honour at the German International Hunting Exhibition in Berlin and a bronze falcon was presented to the British Falconers’ Club by General Herman Göring (who could forget that!)

Can it really be 25 years since the Falklands War?

I was a mere babe-in-arms at the time (well, a teenager actually) but there are a few things I remember vividly about it. The sailor Simon Weston who got so badly burnt. The ship that sank, The Sir Galahad. The place name, Goose Green.

And Max Hastings, of course. He was the journalist who was the first Briton to enter Port Stanley and he's since edited papers including the Daily Telegraph.

The hunting, shooting and fishing fraternity were out in force yesterday for a big sale of sporting equipment in Cambridgeshire.

Nearly 700 lots went under the hammer at the Cheffins auction, including pictures, taxidermy, hunting attire, fishing tackle, guns and shooting accessories.

Auctions are brilliant.

You can sometimes pick up a real bargain (if you avoid getting carried away with the bidding!) and they're a great chance to catch up on all the local news and views.

Was only thinking the other day there doesn't seem to be many blogs about fishing - then, hey presto, someone tells me about a fly fishing blog.

Urbanflyfisher.com, which has been shortlisted in the sports category of the Ask.com/Metro Best of British Blog Awards 2007, is well worth a look if fly fisning's you thing...

Sporting buffs will have the chance to get their hands on some rare treasures at a sale at Perth Racecourse on June 16.

One of the highlights of the Scottish Sporting Sale will be a painting by A Roland Knight called 'Salmon on the fly' which is valued at £1,500-£1,800.

There'll also be sporting guns, big game trophy heads and a collection of fishing tackle.

The picture shown, Roaring Stag, by Malcolm Coward measures 25.5 x 35.5cms and carries and estimate of £400-£600.

The event comes not long after another auction by Cheffins in Cambridge when more than 700 sporting lots went under the hammer.

I once tried to take up golf. It bored me senseless. I never could quite see the point of it.

I'm gutted that the Game Fair has been cancelled.

OK, so I had a lot of work to do at the event (my days of just turning up at shows, shopping, eating and catching up with mates are sadly long gone) but it's my favourite summer show.

It's devastating, too, for all the people who had planned to exhibit - not to mention the 140,000-plus people who were planning to attend.

Meanwhile in Wales the Royal Welsh continues, despite the rain and come traffic-related chaos. My friends who are they're tell me it's been raining again this afternoon. No surprise there then...

I like fishing. It's infinitely more fun than, say, golf (which isn't saying much).

One thing I've never tried, though, is salmon fishing. My pockets aren't deep enough.

But there's a lot of legend and myth associated with this magnificent fish - and rumours spread like wildfire whenever there's talk of a new record-sized catch. Fair to say, the rumour-mill has been working overtime around Loch Ness this week.

It would have been a long way for one of them to have travelled - but, who knows, maybe the fish at the centre of all the excitement was one of the escapee salmon we were talking about just the other day!

I'm always up for going on the odd work-related jolly (hint, hint!). Sadly, there aren't as many of offer as there used to be.

When news reached me about this, though, I must admit my first reaction was: That sounds like a bit of a jolly!

Apparently the Lords take on the Commons every year in a clay shoot and the 2007 one recently happened at Squerryes Court in Kent.

According to the BASC, the event helps to demonstrate the benefits of safe and responsible shooting sports, and provides an informal forum for MPs and peers to discuss issues affecting shooting.

If you say so.

The Lords team ended up narrowly winning, if you're interested.

My friend, Nick, tells me he had a good day's shooting yesterday (he won't tell me how many birds he bagged, so I'm assuming his shooting hasn't improved all that much!) but sadly didn't get to see Madonna.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this blog into USA Today (any more than I'm going to turn it into a celebrity fest), but I did find this article interesting.

It's a piece from America about how one woman, despite thinking hunting was an exclusive male preserve, became a convert.

For a long time, she was convinced it was just an excuse for guys to get together and drink beer. Can't imagine why!

I'm off to Alnwick later today to meet the Farmers Weekly/CLA Gamekeeper of the Year, Kevan McCaig, at a presentation tomorrow.

I love Northumberland, having lived for a while in Newcastle. Alnwick is a beautiful spot, although it'll take me the best part of a day to drive there from the south-east.

If you'd like to find out more about the town - this website has some fascinating information about the place.

Haven't been able to lay my hands on a copy of Debretts, so expect social blunders!

One of the topics of conversation at lunch with a big group of gamekeepers yesterday was what the collective noun for a group of keepers might be.

Just to prove that I was actually in Alnwick last week (I'm putting in an expenses claim for travelling so I don't want there to be any doubt about it!) here's the line-up.

This made me laugh - brings a whole new meaning to the term 'fox hunting', wouldn't you say.

Since I mentioned the other day that I kept ferrets I’ve been bombarded with questions. So, here are some answers to the five most popular questions:

Why did you keep them?
Because a friend of mine did, and I realised what good pets they made. Plus I used to take them out to catch rabbits.

What did they eat?
They loved bread and milk but obviously are carnivorous so they’d tuck into any dead animals (including roadkill). They liked raw eggs, chicken giblets, and sausages. When I was away from home, my poor mum was left to feed them – she’s be too scared to open the hutch so would poke sausages through the mesh on a stick!

This year has brought an invasion of a so-called “army of pigeons”.

Now, this is the first time that I've had cause to imagine pigeons as having militant capabilities, but many farmers are now facing an ‘agricultural reign of terror’ because of these gluttonous birds.

Anyone know how to fly fish?

In a rash moment (yes, funnily enough it was in the pub), I've agreed to take part in a NFU fly fishing competition on Rutland Water. It seemed a good idea at the time.

Talking of fly fishing, nine brave ladies enjoyed two days of it at the Arundell Arms in Devon last weekend as participants in Casting for Recovery, a unique outdoor-based programme for women who have - or have had - breast cancer.

If you like shooting, then you might want to get hold of some of this.

A brewery is producing a special beer to celebrate the British Association of Shooting and Conservation's centenary.

This is the sort of thing I was envisaging.

There was me, glossing over our lack of fish at the NFU Fly Fishing day (lack of local knowledge, bad weather, unsuitable flies etc) and my friend Phil goes and blows my story out of the water (geddit?) with a write-up about how well some of the others did. Bugger.

I could, I suppose, talk about the monster trout I had on briefly, but I lost it...

Trouble is, 'the one that got away' stories are boring, so I won't.

The only person who can do 'one that got away' interestingly is Raymond Carver (pictured).

If you don't know him, he's an American writer (he died in the 1990s) who just got fishing.

One of my favourite pieces of work of his is a story called Nobody Said Anything, which is about two boys who catch a huge fish by hand. It perfectly captures the sense of excitement boys have about fishing (it also has, like a lot of Carver's work, a dark undertone).

He also wrote a poem (I think it's called The Kitchen but I'll need to check when I go home tonight) about a boy who loses his rod to a huge fish. The sense of disappointment is palpable...

If you've never read Carver, try him: he's a fabulous writer. If you're not interested in writing, apologies for the digression!

Fishing and cricket fans will love this. A short recording of Christopher Martin-Jenkins 'corpsing on air after making an unfortunate fishing analogy on Test Match Special (I love fishing but, with the exception of golf and Formula 1, cricket is possibly the most boring pursuit on earth).

As 'corpsing' goes, I still reckon the best one ever is the delightful Charlotte Green on Radio 4's Today show. I defy anybody to listen to that and not find themself smiling...

I'm going to get in trouble with the boss at this rate (I can sense a 'No more poetry - Ed' note winging its way to me) but I dug out that Raymond Carver book I mentioned yesterday evening. The poem is called The Kitchen and here's the extract I was talking about:

I hung around the pond a long time
(the same pond that'd take my friend a year later),
once in a while catching a glimpse of my bobber,
now here, now there. Shadows grew fat
and dropped from trees into the pond. Finally
it was dark, and I biked home.
My dad was drunk
and in the kitchen with a woman not his wife,
nor my mother either

I also happened across one of his poems I haven't read for years called Hummingbird, which is possibly the most romantic eight lines ever written.

Anyway, anough poetry. Now for something more earthy. And manly....

I've talked ferrets before - principally answering the questions people always ask me when they hear I used to keep them.

And there's some good ferreting stuff over here on James Marchington's blog...

Five things:

1 Countryman Ranulph Fiennes didn't make it up Everest.

2 I've had no reply from Mariella Frostrup (she's probably too busy berating men at Hay).

3 I'm worried I'm becoming a little bloodthirsty as I seem to have written lots recently about different ways to kill animals and eat them. Sorry if it's been a bit too much - I'll make more of an effort to be nice and soft and cuddly in future...

4 Speaking of gore, Nutmeg has just killed her first bird. There was blood and guts and feathers all over the kitchen. I was so proud...

5. The fonts are playing up on this blog.

Now this is nice.

It's artwork by the renowned wildlife artist Julian Novorol and it'll be used on the Wildlife Habitat Trust stamp, called 'Flying pinkfeet at Faxfleet'.

I've mentioned this fantastic charity before.

Casting for Recovery is a unique outdoor-based programme specifically designed for women who have, or have had, breast cancer.

Now as you know, I like a spot of fishing - even if recent my recent endeavours suggest I'm rubbish at it.

So I was interested to see that two stretches of river with fishing rights in the Cotswolds will go under the hammer soon.

A charity calendar featuring gamekeepers in various poses is to be launched at the Scottish Game Fair.

The money raised will be split between the Gamekeeper Welfare Network (GWN) and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The idea for a fundraising calendar was developed by Helen Benson, who set up the GWN in 2005 to support keepers, ghillies and stalkers across the country.

Every monthly page in Lord, Ladies & Gamekeepers 2009/10 shows a keeper going about his daily routine, but with the addition of a prominent female figure, well known as a supporter of sporting and countryside issues.

After last year's successful Falconry Festival, the organisers have announced they'll be holding the event again on July 11-12 next year.

You can't say they're not giving us plenty of notice!

So, I'm here at one of my favourite events of the year, the CLA Game Fair.

It's at the beautiful Blenheim Palace and now I'm here, it's great. Sadly it took rather than longer than expected to get here. The traffic was carnage: it took over two hours to do the last five miles. Lots of hot cars and impatient people.

I've had a wander and am looking forward to the rest of today and tomorrow here. Here's all the news and photos.

I can't believe how busy it's been at the Game Fair today. There were so many people you could barely walk along some of the avenues at times.

Strikes me that this event is going from strength to strength - it's a great day out and it tailors everything to what its visitors want (it knows, as the marketeers might say, its demographic). Other shows should take note! 

Good to see there were bottles of water being handed out free to punters as they went in this morning - a small gesture, but a nice touch. They certainly have been needed. Many people were also wishing they'd remembered their suntan lotion!

The delays getting onto the site weren't anywhere nearly as bad as yesterday morning, either.

My one criticism is the entry price. £25 for an adult on Friday (reduced to £20 for either Saturday or Sunday) seems a bit steep.

Other than that, it's been great - and tomorrow, which is the last day, looks set to draw in big numbers of visitors again. My highlights - other than meeting Bernard Cribbins, of course - were tasting some positively divine cheeses and seeing all the different breeds of dog.

Unfortunately, I missed the Shooting Times party on Friday night which I gather is the drinks gathering not to be missed at the Fair. Apparently Lembit Opik was there, enjoying the hospitality (minus the cheeky girl).

You can see more news and loads of photos here.

Here's some video footage from the Game Fair. I make what I think in film circles is known as a cameo appearance: basically I'm in shot for about two seconds!

You can see news and photos from the event here.

As a kid, I spent whole days out on the north Kent mudflats.

One of my friend's parents used to go Flounder Tramping. I haven't thought about it for years, so enjoyed reading this recent account of the practice in The Field magazine.