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WEEKEND TELEGRAPH - 22.11.03
Herne Bay and Margate do not spring to mind as centres of sporting
excellence, but inland from the candyfloss and winkles lie the Thanet
Marshes and back in the 1950s, when I was imprisoned in the City as
a lowly clerk, I used to escape at weekends to hunt with the Thanet & Herne
Foxhounds. We used to hunt on the Marshes, which were then all old
pasture. Time has marched a long distance since then. The Thanet & Herne
expired with a tired sigh, most of the old grasses have disappeared
under the plough and the area became a major producer of vegetables
for the urban supermarkets.
Nether Hale Farm, Birchington was a member of the supermarket chain
gang. The Smith family ran an intensive operation, growing cauliflower,
broccoli and lettuce for the supermarkets on 350 acres of 'improved'
marsh land, which marches with the London - Ramsgate railway line and
is about a mile from the sea. Four generations of the family have lived
in the lovely, rambling old house, parts of which date back to the
15th Century and which was once a lively centre of the smuggling trade:"
Brandy for the Parson, baccy for the clerk, laces for a lady, letters
for a spy…" Ian and Claire Smith are the present incumbents.
Ian's father spent much of the 1960s 'rationalising' the farm - ripping
out the hedges to enlarge the fields for easier cultivation, in accordance
with the agricultural 'zeitgeist' of the day. Some 5 years ago, Ian
decided that he had enough of being 'screwed' by the supermarkets.
He gave up growing veg, signed up for the 'Countryside Stewardship'
scheme and reverted to grain and sheep. He also followed his dream
of setting up a first class partridge shoot. This is an ongoing situation.
The old hedge lines are being replaced with beetle banks and conservation
strips. 'Set aside' areas have been scattered about the farm. In these
areas the Smiths established plantations of giant sorgum and millet,
kale and quinoa and other game and cover crops. No staff is employed.
Claire does the shepherding and apart from that, husband and wife,
devote their new found time to keepering and improving the bio-diversity
of the farm, which is now rich in wildlife. I visited the
farm as a humble part of a team of judges for the Purdey Game and Conservation
Award. Nether Hale is an entrancing place. We
visited it on bright sunny day with a keen east wind off the sea to
remind us that there is nothing between the Kent coast and the Ural
Mountains - except the Russian Steppes, the North German plain and
the North Sea. In my memory, I have been colder on the Kent marshes
than I have been anywhere else in England.
Our tour of the farm was pure delight. I saw more Grey partridges than
I have ever seen before in such a limited area. There are 25 breeding
pairs on the farm with over 40 breeding pairs of French partridges
- 800 more were to be released for the season. The number of wild pheasants
has more than doubled. The shooting pressure on the farm is modest
- with 4 driven days, a beaters' day and a boys' day. That is not the
end of the story. Nether Hale attracts duck in large numbers - teal,
mallard, widgeon, pochard, tufted, shoveller and gadwall are all on
record. In 2002 the Smiths dug a new teal flight pond, which is proving
very successful and further wetland habitat is on the plans. It follows
naturally that all this improvement in conservation has attracted song
birds in large numbers and the RSPB conducts song bird counts on the
farm. I should think that the dawn chorus in the spring must be something
to hear. The love and enthusiasm of the Smiths for their farm and their project
shines through - they are indeed worthy winners 0f the 2003 Purdey
Award.
WEEKEND TELEGRAPH - 1.11.03
All right, all right - I surrender. I cannot withstand the onslaught
of queries about my dogs. I can withstand the queries about my children
- I only have one son and he is an IT wizard in the City and would
certainly seek legal redress were I to write about changing his nappies
- a thing I never attempted, anyway. The dogs have no resort to legal
advice.
I will start with Tigger, my German Wirehaired Pointer. You may remember
that he came to me as a Rescue Dog aged 15 months. He had been through
3 different homes and was a complete hooligan who did not even know
his own name. He was a disaster waiting to happen. We prevented that
with a judicious use of an electronic training collar. I underline
judicious, because, used badly, these collars can break a dog. I only
really zapped him twice, to break him from sheep - the alternative
being a bullet. He is now a happy, handsome and well adjusted dog who
comes to the whistle, sits, waits and walks to heel, although I allow
him plenty of freedom to gallop off his considerable energy. He is
one of the best movers I have ever seen and flies wire fences and wooden
gates with extraordinary grace. He has a wonderful nose and I have
just started him on deer work. He points deer and will follow a blood
trail with huge enthusiasm. GWPs are first and foremost working dogs,
but they are very good looking and herein lies the possible seeds of
their downfall. Well meaning people buy them as fashion accessories
and become upset when they seek to work off their frustrations by wrecking
the house and pursuing the domestic moggy. It is my strongly held belief
that no one should take on any breed of working dog, unless they intend
to work it.
This brings us neatly to Pip, the Lucas Terrier. He is pushing two and
I have just started taking him to the hounds. He loves hunting although
he has not yet had the chance to meet a fox in earnest. I
have no doubt that he will do his job. He loves the quad and as soon
as I get the quad out, he pops up and sits on the seat waiting for
the off. I have fixed a carrying box on the back, but only put him
in it when we are on the road, or if the weather is especially foul.
He is tough as old leather and in spite of his short legs, he runs
for miles alongside the machine on the hills. When he wants a lift,
he jumps and rides along with his hind legs in my lap and his fore
feet on the console, his ears streaming in the wind. I was worried
initially about this on rough ground, because his position looks precarious,
but he has a wonderful sense of balance and rides the bumps with all
the skill of a matelot on the fore tops'l yard arm. My only niggle
is that he insists on sharing what meagre rations the Dragon Lady allows
me in my state of diet. Portion control is rigid and I have had to
put two new holes in my belt (inwards that is), so Pip is helping me.
He remains a charming and maddening little dog. He still has great
games with the Rottweiler (Security Detail). I do shudder when she
picks him and swings him round by his Wilfred - a euphemism for a part
of his anatomy that may not be mentioned in a family newspaper - however
this treatment seems to have no effect on his amorous proclivities.
November 1st should be the opening Meet, but not this year. This year
there
will be 12 regional meets where Field Sports persons are gathering
to protest about the Hunting Bill and to sign declarations that they
will continue to hunt and will smash this rotten Bill should this rancid
government ever be stupid enough to try and enact it.
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