On Patrol With The Countryside's Copper

Rural crime costs the country millions every year; but what exactly are the problems that landowners and farm-workers face, and what is being done to counteract them? Katie Jarvis joined PC Ashley Weller, Cotswold’s rural crime officer, on patrol.

If there are disturbances in the fields of Calmsden Estate on this sunkissed summer’s morning, it’s merely a bouncing breeze rustling ears of wheat into a playful Mexican wave. Somewhere within these 2,000 acres, wild orchids – rich pinks, flamboyant purples - are spicing the air with sticky sweetness. Somewhere, grey partridge chicks are scratching for fat green caterpillars, beetles and bugs. The summer, with its central warm, dry stretch, has been the best in a long while for this declining game-bird, whirring of wings and chestnut of tail. As PC Ashley Weller swings his 4x4 in through the gates of the gamekeeper’s cottage, Will Pratt is already striding out to meet us. He’s not only had the coffee brewing; there are chocolate biscuits laid out on a plate. Lying next to them on the table is a copy of The Field, a plump, airborne grey partridge as its cover-shot. Will is justly proud of the award-winning conservation work done at Calmsden. It’s one of the reasons he badgered the owner for the gamekeeper’s job in the first place after he’d heard - through the grapevine - the previous incumbent was retiring. It’s a close-knit community among gamekeepers.

The two men greet each other warmly. They first met in 2014, when Ashley – new to the job of Cotswold Rural Environmental Crime Liaison Officer – started knocking on farm doors to introduce himself.

“I can’t remember the exact moment we met, but I know it was love at first sight,” Will joshes.

Ash grins back. The jokes come thick and fast but the respect is mutual. “There’s an old stereotype that gamekeepers persecute wildlife to protect their game,” Ashley says. “Will destroys all those myths. In fact, rarely will I see that type of bad behaviour among Cotswold gamekeepers. They’re my eyes and ears on the ground.”