Countryside issues, food, game recipes, fishing, hunting | The Field

Feeding the masses

Mike Robinson provides the perfect provender to dish out to the hordes of festive visitors while keeping the purse-strings tight.

Short and to the point

In the contest for the best 21st-century gundog the hunt, point, retrieve breeds are separated only by a hairs breadth  or length.

Grayling, the Gallic grail

Charles Rangeley-Wilson's passion for poisson is tested by the "impossible" grayling, the only fish in abundance in French rivers  with good reason.

Joining the flat pack

If you want a gundog with a good nose, an independent and intelligent mind and Kate Moss looks, the sharp, sophisticated flatcoat is for you.

Count your chickens

Mike Robinson balances the price of free range with a sense of economy by cooking one chicken three ways, ending up with eight main-course helpings to make the most out of the bird. Here's his first method:

From lough to loch and father to offspring

When Charles Rangeley-Wilson was a boy, he spent his summers fishing the far-flung loughs of <br /> Co Kerry for trout. Sneakily, via their stomachs, hes passed his love of lake-angling to his children. Now they join him on Loch Affric to catch and cook lunch.

Wild rabbit rolls

Traditional game may be out of season but rabbits are still in a field near you to hunt and gather for an epicurean feast, says Mike Robinson

Danger signals

Deadly, alien crayfish are killing our endangered native species. We must act now to nip the problem in the bud, says Mike Daunt.

Linguini with Brixham crab

The brown crab seems to be doing well at the moment; certainly there never seems to be a shortage. So why not make a meal out of it?

Tramping for flounders

Flounder-tramping  fishing with the feet  is a rare skill. Although it's easiest learnt in childhood, Johnny Scott puts his best foot forward.

Bonefish on a shoe-string

You don't need gazillions of dollars to hit the glorious Bahamian flats and drown those winter blues in clear blue water.

Clam chowder

Mike Robinson's clam chowder may hail from New England but there's nothing puritan about it, except the lack of expense.

Save the River Wandle

Embarrass Brown to save the Wandle. Only political will can ensure that the capital's most iconic trout river holds more fish than sewage after a summer downpour.

Gallic food recipes

Mike Robinson rustles up Burgundian dishes of snails, cockerel and beef and adds sufficient garlic to keep even the most bloodthirsty vampire at breath's length

Fishing a trouty trove

The rivers around Lake Rotoroa in New Zealand possess monster brown that provide some of the best fishing in the world.

Salmon fishing on the Kola Peninsula

There's only one Kola Peninsula - and you can't beat it for salmon rivers teeming with whoppers. Even a novice can catch a 38-pounder!

Game pasty recipe

Here we reveal a game food recipe worth putting your gun down for.

Nuts and holts of pannage

Though we've taken to eating imported cashews, almonds, pecans and peanuts, British men and beasts should cherish our native kernel cache.

Red deer stalking in the Scottish Highlands

The deer stalking in Fasnakyle at the east end of Glen Affric has changed little and is as exciting as ever, with every nerve on fire in man and beast.

Laird for a week

The essentially Victorian sporting week of whisky, fireside conversation, a first salmon and a long stalk on the hill still thrives today  along with the chance to have a pot shot at being laird of all you survey.

Westley's riches

William Richards set up shop as a gunmaker three years before Waterloo, but it was under his son Westley and his appointees that the family firm became synonymous with all that is best in British gunmaking. Jonathan Young turns historian.

Rabbiting on with Buccleuch

There's rabbit fever, woodcock on the wing and insanely high partridges  enough to keep Jonathan Young busy on the Queensberry estate.

Lobster soup

As a chef, I am naturally a bit parsimonious when it comes to expensive ingredients.

A master-class in pigeon-shooting

There are few exceptional pigeon-shots around. Elizabeth Walton spends a day with the best of them.

The oyster is their world

Rock off down to the Whitstable Oyster Festival and be seduced by the produce of Kent's pearl. Katie Dashwood's desire to find out more is aroused.

The late, great grouse

End-of-season grouse provide superlative sport at an affordable price if you can bag a day and shoot straight. Adrian Dangar is blown away by the drama of a gusty day on the moor.

A right old stew

Beat the winter blues with rich, robust dishes. Just pop them in the pot and bide your time.

Classified Adverts

Browse the online shop for shooting goods and accessories.

Blue-blooded gundog lineage

The purest of canine lineages have been bred by the bluest bloods in the land, who have continuously fostered the finest lines. This is a Bark's Peerage of aristocratic kennels.

The pulling power of pike

In the almost impenetrable waters of a hidden gravel pit there be monster pike capable of towing a boat. Can fly-fisherman Charles Rangeley-Wilson harness one or will he have to paddle his own canoe?