The Savill’s benchmarking survey is a valuable reference point for those interested in the future of shooting. Here are a few more areas (see this morning’s blog) which caught my eye: the average salary for a single-handed keeper was £21,100 plus benefits. That doesn’t sound like a fortune does it? What might the benefits be?…
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‘Supply outstrips demand’
The Savill’s annual shoot benchmarking survey for last season makes grim reading for the shooting industry – there aren’t enough takers for the millions of so-called wild birds that are shot for fun and profit every year. Any pretence that shooting is connected to food is a distant memory despite these words in the Code…
Paul Leyland – Chironomid midge
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Paul writes: I often photograph insects and have no idea what I’ve seen until I get home. This is one of those creatures. A fairly insignificant thing, less than 10mm long, basking on a leaf. However once I loaded up the image it was a matter of, ‘Wow, isn’t that fantastic’. Then comes the difficult…
Sunday book review – Riverwatch by Mark Everard
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This book by an ecologist and keen angler, is a series of short essays about life by, on and in the river through the year. It focuses on riverine processes and ecology, and flows very well. Each of the 60 short essays, five for each month, also has an illustration from the author. And he…
Tim Melling – Northern Brown Argus
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Tim writes: The Northern Brown Argus occurs across northern Europe and the mountains further south but the form that occurs in Scotland occurs nowhere else. This beautiful (and little-photographed) form has a white spot on the forewing and the under side spots are white without black centres. These features are controlled by a single recessive…