With the rain on Wednesday and the mild weather ever since, the game cover is really coming to life. Little seedlings are emerging all over the field, and some of the triticale which I sowed last week is already three or four inches high. Unfortunately, there is a fly in the ointment. The few rooks Continue reading

The last week has been really very quiet up on the hill, particularly in terms of vermin. I haven’t caught a crow, stoat or weasel in a few days, and there have been no signs of any fox activity. That’s not to say that the buggers aren’t still out there – Having accounted for the Continue reading

Over the last few years, I’ve had to learn a great deal about larsen traps. When I started to work on the Chayne three years ago, I only had one trap and I hardly had the time to keep an eye on it. It sat in a convenient spot by the side of the road Continue reading

Now’s the time of year to be getting stuck into the vermin, and yet again I’m reminded of how difficult life on the Chayne is without proper roads, tracks or access of any sort. Two weeks ago, I carried a multi larsen trap on my back two miles across the hill and left it in Continue reading

Now that normal service can be resumed (and about bloody time), it’s worth catching up on a couple of things. Firstly, larsen mate traps. I got a larsen mate last year when gamekeeping supply companies were churning them out as if there was no tomorrow, cashing in on an easy buck before the inevitable ban Continue reading

After a frustrating false start last week, the first larsen trap is now running on the Chayne. I’ve set the trap in the thick of the snipe bog, where more than a dozen pairs of drumming squeakers are starting to build their territories in anticipation of the breeding season. I was very pleased with how Continue reading

If you ever want to find out if someone you know is funny, ask them if they know the difference between a stoat and a weasel. If they say anything like “a weasel is weasily distinguishable” or “a stoat is stoatally different”, then they are not funny. This is the oldest joke in Christendom, and Continue reading

Over the last few days, I’ve been pre-baiting a home-made funnel trap for rooks and jackdaws, made out of partridge pen sections and old release pen netting. The idea occurred to me that, while I’ve got used to rooks and jackdaws flying around the old farm buildings near the lek site, I really can’t go Continue reading

The death of my favourite blackcock has been a major setback, but things continue with the same rushed excitement that every spring seems to bring on the hill. I’ve been burning heather with a new red grouse project down on the Solway coast, lamping foxes at every opportunity and planning my annual assault on the Continue reading

Throw away your camera – you’ll never take a better picture than this… Couldn’t resist posting this picture of an ermine which a friend found online and sent to me – I’ve seen my ferrets doing precisely the same sort of thing, and can imagine the same frantic hissing/honking sound. I feel quite conflicted about Continue reading