Senate Session 2011-10-04 (10:00:03-11:01:35)

[Music]
Welcome to Fieldsports Britain. Coming up I am at the beach looking for these things
and having some success. On the weekend when the CLA Game Fair was cancelled we have a
round up of what everybody did instead. First, Roy Lupton gets to walk around a shopping
centre in daylight with an airgun.
[Urban music]
You can take the man out of the countryside, but you can not take the countryside out of
the man. Roy Lupton has taken a deep breath, had his jabs, and left the Garden of England
to go up to the Big Smoke for a dirty job.
We are in central London at the moment. We are not allowed to disclose our location.
There is a hell of a problem that they have got with pigeons. And as you will see in a
minute they are defecating over everything. Over the windows, over the pipework, over
the pavements. For a shopping centre, especially the food outlets, it is not overly hygienic.
It is a contract which has to be done in combination with working the birds to scare the pigeons
and shooting a few of the pigeons as well. So we are here tonight to try and reduce the
population a little bit. But when you are used to walking around with grass under your
feet, coming to central London is a bit of a shock to the system.
London is under aerial assault from pigeons and parts of it are covered in guano: carparks,
walkways and shopping centres like this one. The thing is, Londoners are so used to it,
they have stopped noticing. But the birds are a real problem and by using hawks one
week and air rifles the next, Roy is trying to keep his avian foes in check.
Now it is very, very odd isn't it. Right in the middle of an urban environment here, so
we have got high raised flats and shopping centres and what ever else surrounding us.
And obviously when we are taking the shots, you are making sure that you have got a solid
backstop as you would with any other shooting. So we are shooting into the wall making sure
the pellets don't go a rye anywhere. And again we are only using sub 12ftlb air rifles. Obviously
we are here, pigeon coming in. Here to do a pest control job and so we are trying to
get as many as we can as quickly as we can. And down he goes and you can see that the
pigeons are so used to seeing people that even after a shot, 30 seconds later more pigeons
are coming in so it is literally stand on the same point and they will just come in
land again and away you go. So my neck is craning all over the place as there are pigeons
all around us. It is just absolutely mad.
Just like in any shooting situation Roy has to be absolutely sure about shot placement.
He also needs to find the most stable position to take that shot. In London, tree trunks
become sign posts or concrete pillars. Five-bar gates become brick walls or wheelie bins.
We are using the same techniques for shooting as we would in any other situation and the
same rules apply and obviously in a situation like this safety is paramount and you have
got to make sure you can account for where every single pellet is going to end up. But
yes, it is exactly the same. You are getting a good solid rest, you are looking for the
shot and you are trying to take the safest shot possible. Normally when I am shooting
pigeons I try to go for head shots. When we have been doing it tonight I have been doing
a lot of chest shots. Just because you have obviously got a little bit more margin for
error and the birds are dropping down so as long as you are shooting through the vitals,
the spine or what ever else, they are dropping nicely. Exactly the same you have got to have
the same amount of respect for the animals that you are shooting and accounting for.
You just have to make sure that the shots you are taking are as efficient as possible.
Now you may notice Roy's pest controller mate is blurred out. The poor lad is so frightened
of attacks by anti-hunters, he specially asked to be left out of this film.
Back to the story, instead of merging into his natural environment like a chameleon Roy
is wearing his clubbing gear and sporting an Air Arms airgun for tonight's antics. It
attracts attention from the police and shoppers alike.
High are you alright?
What are you doing?
We are doing pest control.
OK.
A young woman questions Roy's parentage and makes further suggestions about what he could
do with himself, but he has heard it all before.
I think it is the same whenever you come into a position of conflict regarding shooting
or field sports or what ever else. As long as you are polite and try and explain your
side of it, really that is all you can do and hope that they understand. And really
not take too much umbridge with it. Very interesting.
A few distractions do not deter the man from finding his ferals and the bird bag is building.
They are being knocked off their perches from every angle, sometimes in front of passers-by.
We know his urban transformation is almost complete when locals start asking him for
directions.
Yeah, you are fine. No problem.
They think you are a traffic warden.
I know.
The birds find sanctuary everywhere. This centre has spent thousands on netting and
big spikes, but the ferals are not easy to keep on top of. Some are even using safety
glass to keep out of reach of Roy's pellets.
You can see here some of the mess and damage that has been caused. Especially in an environment
like this where people are walking through. They will pick up the mess etc on their feet.
And up here you can see where the pigeons have been nesting and it is a complete health
hazard up in the rafters with all the messy material and years of detritus which has built
up in there as well. It is a haven for muck and disease. So again another high light of
why this work has got to be done.
The guys both enjoy using the hawk for jobs like this - keeping the pigeons on their toes
or what remains of their toes. Now and again we chance it and throw a light across the
buildings to see if the birds will stay put. Some do and they don't see what's coming.
It's all thanks to a new torch Roy has been given to play with.
This has been absolutely invaluable tonight. This is night master by Tack Light and we
have been sent it to have a go with. And we were going to try it out on the foxes. It
is meant to throw out the same sort of beam as a conventional lamp would that you plug
in and it is just a little hand held torch, absolutely superb. The beam on it is brilliant.
Obviously it is very odd it has got a square beam there so you can see I think it must
have a filament in there. From what we have seen so far I am looking forward to having
a play with the foxes. Right let us go and find some more pigeons.
It's been a quite extraordinary evening - walking the streets of London with rifles, popping
off ferals.
As we leave our superhero to his work, we can all sleep safer knowing he is making London
a cleaner, better, even safer place. Just shine the bat-signal into the night sky or,
better still, give Roy a ring,and he will come and clean up pigeons round your shopping
centre too.
Now if you enjoyed that piece about shopping centres and rifles you will love the Shooting
Show. You will see a clip of it appearing on the screen just there. It is coming to
you from one of the most incredible shooing venues in the world. Bisley.
Next from shopping centres with guns to real news. It is David on the Field Sports Channel
News Stump.
[Music]
This is Fieldsports Britain News.
So will it be a bumper grouse season or not?
With less than three weeks to go until the start of the grouse season, reports are coming
in from across the UK over whether this year's broods survived the wet weather. GunsOnPegs.com
predicts a patchy season. William Powell Sporting confirms this saying England will be better
with substantial numbers East of the Pennines where the rain was less heavy. The Borders
looks reasonably good, especially in the east, north of Berwick. The Angus Glens will see
many moors curtail their season to a degree. Elsewhere, says William Powell Sporting, it
is 'patchy to very patchy'.
Scottish Natural Heritage has issued deer managers with a "shoot on sight" call after
muntjac deer are were spotted in Dumfries and Galloway. The non-native species was spotted
in private forestry land near Sanquhar. SNH claims that if a muntjac population became
established in Scotland it could cost up to £2 million a year to manage.
Forest officials have said that a leopard that killed a six-year-old girl near Mumbai
in India last week cannot be trapped. They say they cannot try to catch the Mulund maneater
because trapping in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is illegal. Instead, they have intensified
their night patrols and put a 10-member rescue team on stand-by in case of an emergency.
Residents of an illegal settlement on the park have been requested not to venture out
after dark.
As the Government-sanctioned badger cull approaches, diehard antis are resorting to increasingly
desperate attempts to gain public support.
Speaking at a League Against Cruel Sports meeting in Taunton this month, Brian May accuses
shooters of killing hundreds of badgers in the West Country and dumping the carcases
on the roads to make them look like roadkill.
What is going on at the moment is culling. We are in a cull at the moment. If you drive
around the west country you will see hundreds, if you spend enough time on the roads, of
badgers who seem to have been killed on the roads. But we have very good information from
many people that these badgers have been killed, they have been shot, they have been gassed,
they have been poisoned and thrown on the road.
If you are watching this on YouTube, click on the link for the full hilarious story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBjo6VUqKE
Now is he fibbing or is he telling the truth? You decide.
The week before last we featured Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness
talking about his passion for flyfishing. However, he told us one fishy tale that has
anglers up in arms. Listen to it and you decide.
I pulled the rod so hard that the rod broke in two, but the salmon stayed on the line.
I was standing up on the bank and didn't know what to do, but the only thing I could do
was get down to the river, the salmon was at the side of the river and lift it with
2 hands and throw it onto the bank.
As one angry forum post put it: you can lie in politics but you can not tell lies about
flyfishing.
You are now up to date with Field Sports Britain News. Stalking the stories. Fishing for facts.
Now the map that matters and Calendar UK.
[Music]
Welcome to Calendar. Here are the most important dates for the diary and seasonal diaries.
First off it is sunny, enjoy. Second the moon is waxing crescent, heading for full on 2nd
August, with the spring tides soon after.
That is not all that is happening at the beginning of August there is also a great chance of
seeing some new rifles in action.
In Ilkley west Yorkshire Stead Hall Firearms are hosting a summer spectacular with GMK
on Saturday 4th August. They are opening the range at Stead Hall rifle club from 10 till
3 giving visitors the chance to test fire the latest kit from Seiko Antika. It is going
to be an event for all the family with artery and air rifle ranges as well as refreshments
and barbecues. So please turn up and support your local range. For more information contact
John Fernley or visit www.steadhallfirearms.co.uk.
To the south of the country and the Cornwall and Devon Countrymans Fair is taking place
on Sunday the 5th of August at Werrington Park in Launceston. They are promising a shopper's
paradise with loads of trade stands, catering and licensed bars. The main arena will also
be full of entertainment, covering falconry demos, gundogs, wildfowl of Chris Green and
the Knights of Middle England. As usual the fair will be supporting local charities so
please go along and take advantage of a fair that has survived the summer downpours. Visit
www.countrymansfair.co.uk
Now for some seasonal signposts.
On the deer front, the roebuck rut is upon us and the countryside is awash with British,
German, Dutch and Danish trophy hunters. You can hear more about this handsome fellow on
next week's programme.
With pheasant and partridge poults arriving at many shoots, keepers are redoubling their
fox shooting efforts.
It has not been a red letter breeding year for the rural red fox, but the urban red fox
has faired better cared for as they are by Brian May.
Also coming up you are allowed to sell hares from next week, the 1st of August in England,
Scotland and Wales.
And you should have been shooting geese under licence on the Isle of Man from the 1st July.
On the fishing front, the forums report good salmon runs inbetween washouts on Scotlands
east coast rivers and excellent runs on rivers along the west coast of Ireland.
That was this week's calendar. If you want to be on The Map That Matters next week, telling
the globe about your event talk to James at james@fieldsportschannel.tv
A bucket and spade holiday on the beach. Bad news for your average grouse shooter and fox
hunter, not a bit of it. You need one of these and one of these and we are going to catch
prawns.
Now much as I love all kinds of venery I am not very good at them. But get me on to one
hunting subject while in the pub and you will need to have the exit in sight, because I
do know my stuff about prawning. Because prawing has been the Jacoby family summer sport of
choice for more than a century.
Now the prawning net the Jacoby family has developed very carefully over a period of
centuries. So can you talk me through it because we don't buy nets do we?
No chance. You get a rake handle which is one and half metres long minimum, a length
of reinforcing rod just strong enough to be stiff, stiff enough not to bend. That is the
metal frame that goes right round here. A length of ordinary galvanised wire.
Has it got to be galvanised?
Otherwise it goes rusty. You have to wash it off any how. I have used some bits of old
plant tie, but the best is to use stripped cable. You tear the guts out of the cable
and wrap it round and this protects the net and it is always used that way up not that
way up because it would cut through the netting the other side. Netting can be got from various
suppliers. This is an ancestral and vestigial stock and if you bend this into a very narrow,
long device which can go deep in, a full arm's length plus the stick and then bring it back
very slowly. We call that not a net but a prawnicator
Widemouth Bay - spelt wide mouth bay - is one of many beaches on the north coast of
Cornwall and Devon where the rocks slope at the right angle to encourage prawns not to
go out with the tide. Choose a big tide and fish those pools in the two hours up to low
tide.
Prawning, when did prawning start for us?
For us, right from the word go I think. My grandfather, your grandmother's, my mother's
father certainly did it. I was taught in 1948 by a man who was already 92, so he would have
been born in the 1850's and he took us out prawning and showed us what to go for.
Let's just look at that big lobster again. Dear me - whatever happened to that good looking
lad?
There is lots of history at Widemouth. Black Rock is where the wrecker Featherstone operated,
waving his lamp to attract ships to certain death. He was condemned to make ropes of sand
for eternity, which is of course impossible. There are the tank stoppers designed to prevent
Germans from landing in the Second World War. When I was a child, they still ran all the
way along the beach itself. Now they are used for storm defences. And the place is a magnet
for surfers, which gives you something to do in the run-up to high tide.
There are many sorts of seaweed here. This is bladder wrack and it has got bladders in
it. You can pop those, very satisfactory. Very useful for aunt's beds. Then that is
not much good. You don't get many prawns here. You are after a thing called Leander serratus,
the big prawn. What you want is further down the beach 'saw wrack' and you can see what
it is, it has got a serrated edge to its prongs.
I call that serrated wrack.
Serrated rack or saw wrack or whatever, Fucus serratus. This one is Fucus vesiculosus if
you want.
We are not taking this unseriously are we?
No, no.
Once you know the latin names of your quarry, you are really up there you know.
You have two sorts of prawns. One is the nice big one Leander serratus with a big serrated
rostrum on the front.
Yes, he doesn't like you taking those liberties you know.
He is more worried about being eaten. And then you have got a much smaller one, Leander
squilla, but that is no good.
But you also have the shrimp here which a lot of people get confused between shrimps
and prawns don't they?
Shrimpers are a lonely cast of people and they have a broad net with a bar and they
shuffle it through the tide, through the sand and they filter the sand, just like basking
sharks and the sand shrimp is a flattened thing, rather small, but not this quality
of game at all. You will get a few on the beach further down.
This is one of the Cornish Big Five isn't it?
Yes, yes.
Lobster, sea trout, prawn...
No trout is a vertebrate so don't count that. Certainly lobster, spider crab, edible crab
and prawn among the crustaceans.
Sometimes we prawnographers hit the crustacea equivalent of a gold reef by moving the net
slowly down a narrow ledge. On these occasions, you can't beat a pincer movement with another
member of the family, preferably the Jacoby family.
And then as the tide ends the day's prawning, there is the joy of eating them. Boil the
water they came from. Using freshwater is of course morally reprehensible. Drop them
in and cook them until their eyes go black, which is about two minutes, then shell them
and eat them on brown bread. My son Edmund will maintain family tradition by demonstrating
how to shell a prawn.
You bend its head off, then peel the skin off, by putting your nails under their legs
and pull the shell off. This is the worst bit about it. When you have finished, you
peel the tail off, then you can put it in your sandwich.
Fieldsports Channel talking to the expert's expert there.
It is Hunting YouTube.
This is Hunting YouTube, which aims to show the best hunting, shooting and fishing videos
that YouTube has to offer.
We've talked about them before and we will talk about them again I am sure. YoungCountrySports
are lads from Oxfordshire who, this time, have got together to go rabbit shooting, rabbit
lamping and a bit of foxing. Who says kids aren't interested in shooting?
Staying in the world of practicalities, Pigeon Shooting on Wheat will not receive the attention
of Trading Standards Officers because it is exactly that. TweedsandPheasants is, as he
says, shooting pigeons on a field of wheat.
Meanwhile, Amazing Crow Calling with Hands is not a film by a German bloke called Hans
but a simple method Crow Hunter's grandfather showed him on how to call in crows with nothing
more than your hands.
A couple of fishing videos for you this week. Nicky Brown does a lot of filming for us and
he has his own YouTube channel TechSecMedia. This week, his film Nick and Ben The Fly Fishing
Men get an airing as they fish at Lechlade Fisheries in Gloucestershire. It's like a
piranha movie, but with trout.
More like Jaws is this week's top fishing video across YouTube. Giant Monster Sturgeon
12ft 4" 1100lb Fraser River Fishing from greatriverfishing sounds like a yeehaa American monster fish
story - except it's filmed in Canada and the anglers are Brits, Michael and Margaret Snell,
who land what could be the biggest fish ever caught on rod and line in freshwater.
Back to shooting and let's get techie. How to make a Rifle Rest is presented by another
YouTube star, HuntersVermin, who gives you a step-by-step guide on how to make an adjustable
rifle rest for your workshop. And it's on AirgunTV
Even techier, CountryPursuitsTV visits Hertford to meet two guys who shoot competitively with
John Bowkett designed and tuned rifles. John Bowkett is one of the worlds finest air rifle
designers, and this is a useful insight into his work.
Now you got to hear the Duke speaking up for duck. 75 Years and Going Strong featuring
John Wayne is the new video by DucksUnlimited, which rightly calls itself the world's leader
in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. The world's greatest cowboy - well you will have
to fight me for it - John Wayne explains why he supported DU, and why wetlands conservation
is important for everyone. Get off your horse and drink in that voice.
Because this is a story about a group of people who have been concerned about living resources
of this planet for over 35 years.
You can click on any of these films to watch them. If you have a YouTube film you would
like us to pop in to the weekly top eight, send it in via YouTube, or email me the link
charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv
Let's go now to Oxfordshire where one shooting ground put on an absolutely superb alternative
to the CLA Game Fair.
The cancellation of the CLA Game Fair this year was heartbreaking for many countrysports
enthusiasts and disastrous for lots of rural businesses. But some of them don't take news
like that lying down. And among the tough nuts is the Oxford Gun Company. It set up
its own mini game fair on the same weekend.
It was a big challenge and we did have some headaches and late nights, but we managed
to pull something off and hopefully everyone has enjoyed. Yesterday was the first day which
I was worried we wouldn't get anyone there and my father was worried that we would get
20,000 people. The number of times it has been on Facebook and Twitter and so on. But
we got 250 people which worked out to be a brilliant day. Everyone said they enjoyed
the shooting, they enjoyed the trade stands, they enjoyed the shop. Everyone has put a
lot of effort into it and it has worked well on the first day. And today early doors and
hopefully everyone is going to enjoy what we have tried to put together.
The Florent family-run business has provided lots of companies with the ideal opportunity
to promote their wares.
It is never going to replace the CLA and the 150 odd thousand visitors. But there are quite
a few people here today. There are quite a lot of people shooting. There are lots of
kids around and families. It is a nice atmosphere to work in.
There are even new gun launches. It is just like the real CLA!
Well, I have known the Florent family for many years, in fact more than 30 years. They
are lovely people and with the CLA cancelled, David Florent had the great idea of having
a mini game fair here and we have all been having a really good time. A really happy
event, really nice people and full marks to them for stepping in after the disaster of
the cancellation of the Game Fair.
You may have just seen a clip from their new rabbit shooting video in our Hunting YouTube
item. YoungCountrysportsChannel was at the event, with founder Charlie Bryant busy filming.
Yes, it is going good. We have got a few good sponsors in the bag. Let's see if we can beat
Charlie Jacoby to.
And what is your inspiration behind countrysports?
It is just getting the younger generation and I have known about Rob Collins, people
might know him from Pass it on. He is doing the same thing, but actually taking the younger
generation into the field. We are just on the YouTube side and getting them liking it
and getting them attracted to it.
The Oxford Gun Company is an award-winning clay ground as well as a shop so it is now
surprise that clays form a major part of its game fair weekend.
What has it been like today?
My shooting is going quite good. I just shot a stag and I shot a straight 10. I got a rabbit
by shooting a 16 and I beat my Dad and my Dad only got a 10.
It doesn't feel good at the time, but I am glad he is getting there. He has definitely
overtaken me now, no trouble. It is a pleasure to see him shoot that well actually.
So, will the Oxford Gun Company version leave the CLA nervous that it's showpiece calendar
event is about to be replaced? Probably not - but that doesn't mean a great time is not
had by all.
Oh, well it is now 3.15 and I have just managed to grab a bit of lunch. It has been absolute
chaos in the shop. It has been very, very good indeed. We said this morning that we
thought it would be an absolute disaster, then the flood gates opened and we have been
packed ever since. A brilliant day, the sun is shining and it has worked really well indeed.
It is nice that some of the trade has decided to support Dave. Browning as usual came up
trumps and supported everything. It is a pity sometimes that some of the other big manufacturers
don't leap in like Browning do, but that is the way the trade is. But absolutely brilliant
day and I think everybody have so enjoyed themselves.
Well, we are back next week and if you are watching this on YouTube don't hesitate to
hit the subscribe button which is about there or one of these panels just here and you will
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contact box. This has been Fieldsports Britain from a beach.