Heather heaven or heather hell?

Working on the moors is a real test for spaniels, both in terms of the thick cover and the stamina the terrain requires, writes Nick Ridley

I‘ve been lucky enough over the years to have worked my spaniels in all sorts of different cover, ranging from thick laid bracken to the spaniel handler’s nightmare: standing maize. On more than one occasion, I have been asked what I consider to be the hardest cover for a spaniel to deal with. The obvious answer is thick brambles, which as anyone who spends time in the beating line or out rough shooting will tell you is even more challenging on a frosty day when there is little give in the thorn-encrusted fronds.

Yet a hard-going spaniel that has been properly introduced to cover during its training seems to revel in the thick stuff . One of my cockers seems to be almost sadistic in the way he hits bramble patches, and it really is a case of “the thicker the better”. I think cockers have a slight advantage over springers as they will get right underneath and work any rabbit or deer runs, whereas I have seen plenty of springers that literally crash and bash over and through bramble. But, to be fair, both styles normally extradite any hiding game.

However, despite the above I would suggest that there is another kind of cover that can really be hard work for any spaniel, not only in terms of the actual cover but also the terrain that will test the stamina of the fittest dog and handler. I first had the chance to work a spaniel on a heather grouse moor over 25 years ago and it is something I shall never forget. At the time, I had a small blue roan cocker bitch called Sweep, and I had been invited to the North York Moors to shoot a few rabbits over her. While I was there, I also got the chance to help pick up on a driven grouse day.