More in hope than expectation

There are few greater pleasures than heading out with your dog for a day of mixed sport, says Mike Swan

- Mike Swan

Every cloud has a silver lining, even in COVID-19 lockdown. Saturday, 14 November was supposed to be our first main day and we were bitterly disappointed when Boris Johnson announced the new rules. However, it rained hard or very hard all day, with gales to boot.

Even if we had gone out in pursuit of our wild pheasants, we would surely have drawn stumps at lunch time — and a sandwich in an open barn, rather than game casserole and a chance to dry out indoors, would not have been much fun either.

Spotting what was in the forecast a couple of days earlier, Erik the estate manager suggested he and I go for an hour in the woods after pigeon in the afternoon. What a good idea, I thought; in that weather they would surely be coming early and the noise of gunshot would have very little disturbing effect on our scattering of pheasants as they drew back to their roosting places.

So at 3.30pm I ventured out with dog, gun, game bag and a pocket full of cartridges.

Open canopy

A quick call to Erik confirmed his original plan to go into the Avenue — a belt of beeches that the pigeon often use as a flightline. On that basis, I had decided that Hill Copse, away to the east, was as good a place as any. It is the right sort of distance away that we might move a bird or two between us, and its open canopy of tall ash and oak makes it a favourite roost.

As I arrived at the wood, several cock birds were sheltering along the edge, no doubt drawing back with a view to roosting there. I have to confess that when one flushed inside the wood, I could not resist and knocked it down as it rocketed away through the branches.