Bog Myrtle & Peat

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve visited the syndicate land down by the Solway which, together with a group of friends, we are working on in the name of red grouse. After our big fire last year (upon which subject a commemorative article will soon be due), it has been amazing to watch the heather spring back into life from charred stems and root stock. Walking over the hill this afternoon with a friend, it was interesting also to see that some heather plants are starting to come back from seed – a slower process but ultimately a more satisfactory one. It hasn’t even been a year since we had our big fire, and already the hill is looking a great deal better for its singeing.

As we walked, we turned up a group of four roe deer who skipped over a bank of scree like chamois. They were far out, but if we had had more time they would have been worth pursuing. As it was, we headed down through banks of fallen bracken, letting the dog work ahead to winkle out woodcock where they were lying up in the last glimpses of sunlight. As soon as we reached the car, I realised that I had left my hat in the heather, and we set off on a quick walk back to pick it up. As if fate had guided us, a grand old dog fox rose out of the rushes ahead and ducked through a lunkey in the dyke two hundred and fifty yards away. It was pushing the limits of what I would risk as a shot, but my friend is a renowned marksman (having been featured on this blog for his extraordinary long range precision shooting before). He fell straight down to the prone position, flicked out the bipod on his .22-250 and took his chance. At 310 yards, the fox lay stone dead, as if knocked down by some invisible bus. I collected my hat from the heather just a few yards from where the fox lay, as if some divine inspiration had made me leave it, knowing that we would be back.

It was my first trip to the land in 2013, and it has set the tone for the future. This will be the year of real progress for the syndicate land, and for me, it has started nicely.