Mike Swan advises on the best way to despatch a fish
Country Queries
Hunter-gathering
Having retired last summer I have impressed my wife with my skills at hunter-gathering. The freezer is respectably full of pheasants and the odd brace of partridges, plus a large…
How to make mead
I have found some recipes for mead but they seem to vary enormously and are rather complicated. Have you a simple one?
Shooting law: ownership of fallen game
Who does fallen game belong to if it lands on a public right of way?
Drinking Toast
I am trying to find the origin and meaning of the toast "Here's mud in your eye." I have been to a few parties where this toast has been used…
How to get rid of squirrels
Over the past months we have shot 20 grey squirrels as they have been causing extensive damage to our young sycamores and beeches. Yet other squirrels just come and take…
Deer devastation
My house sits in the middle of a farm surrounded by forestry. We love to see the wildlife in our garden but are unable to have flower beds as the…
Hatching habitat
There are stirrings in the hedgerows as the peak season for first pheasant and then partridge hatching gets under way. With this comes the biggest dilemma in low-ground wild game…
Pigeon in spring
I may be a dyed-in the wool country bumpkin, but sometimes I envy the urban gardener. Life on a town-centre vegetable plot is so pest-free.
How to trap successfully
There is a widespread myth that to be a successful trapper you need to have inherited generations of skill, learnt at your fathers knee. My father, by whom I was…