- Total Bag – 46
- 42 Pheasants
- 2 Partridge
- 2 Pigeon
- Drives
- Roadside
- Keillor Road
- Oliver#s/ Dell
- Bottom of Arm
- Boulders and Drummick
The temperature was 5c with a brisk wind from SW and a mizzen or drizzle. There was quite a bit of hanging around before we got going. Frank was on holiday and we were relieved to hear that his dog had made a full recovery after last month’s argument with a passing car.
It transpired that the birds were effectively hunkering down in the bad weather. Birds began to flush as the beaters entered the wood despite holding back the dogs. They had been hiding in wooded cover and mostly flew on the wind towards the northeast in several brief flushes for those standing in the Tattie field. Hardly any flew across the wind towards the Tulchan access road/track.
We then moved round onto the Keillor Road. Those stationed at the north end of the road saw no action, whilst those at the south end saw all that there was to be had.
It was decided to do Olivers/The Dell in reverse. This did not produce very many birds and I think only 4 were shot.
By now it was lunchtime and Jill’s excellent soup was already in cups awaiting the party as a very welcome boost to the chilled and damp guns and beaters. The bag by this stage was I think about 26.
After lunch, we ventured out into the strengthening wind and heavier rainfall. The usual maneuver of encircling and driving “the rashes” at the foot of the arm revealed that many pheasants that had been trying to shelter out of the wind and rain amongst the vegetation there. A significant proportion of these flushed out fairly low in the direction towards Frank’s house, but those that did not were accounted for by the team, and we almost doubled the size of the bag. Some time was then spent recovering the shot birds in that difficult terrain. By now it was nearing three in the afternoon and sunset was not far away. With the extensive cloud cover, we knew that there was not a lot of daylight left. We, therefore, headed straight to the boulders for the final drive. Very little flew down to the waiting guns. Some flushed back to the guns at the top. The few that did start heading north circled away quite sharply on seeing those standing on the pegs and made for very difficult shots as the curved on the wind.
Overall we had an enjoyable day. I think everyone had managed to contribute to the bag by the time we had finished. Simon had brought a colleague and friend from his military days to share his peg whilst Simon and his dog retrieved, and they enjoyed a reasonable amount of action on the second and fourth drives. Several of us had become chilled in the wind and our shooting might have suffered as a result of that. Ken had been particularly affected and wisely had retired after the first drive. However, when I spoke to him later that evening he was feeling much better.
In conclusion, the number of birds showing was definitely down. Whether that was because they were lying low and not moving because of the weather, or because they were not there will remain to been seen on subsequent shoot days.
In the meantime, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year.
Best wishes,
Alistair.