Poging GOUD - Vrij
Where the land screams ‘snipe'
Shooting Times & Country
|October 14, 2020
Assorted dogs and a shared passion makes a day spent on the marshes paradise for Richard Negus

I have a first edition of a book called Red Letter Days. It was written in 1933 by M J Farrell, the pen name for the notable poet and author Molly Keane. The book is an homage to the Ireland Keane was a part of — a place of impoverished Anglo-Irish squires, hard-running hounds and side-saddle belles, twinkling-eyed rogues and the wildest of sport. Her rolling prose is accompanied with line drawings and watercolours by Charles ‘Snaffles’ Johnson Payne.
One painting, which partners the chapter “Me Two Feet in a Bog”, is a particular favourite. It portrays a lithe, felt-hatted figure. He wears thick breeks and gaiters with a sleek black labrador at heel, gun at the ready position. The Atlantic coastal landscape that stretches around him is wet, all reeds and winter. You can almost hear the wind whine, the ‘zeep’ of snipe and ‘weep’ of golden plover.
Snaffles has perfectly captured the wetland rough shooter’s stoop of expectation; his dog appears to have winded a bird forward and his excitement and anticipation is tangible. I recreated this delicious image, though my backdrop was the North Sea rather than the Atlantic and the land I strode was in Suffolk rather than County Kerry.
Chilling waves
Dit verhaal komt uit de October 14, 2020-editie van Shooting Times & Country.
Abonneer u op Magzter GOLD voor toegang tot duizenden zorgvuldig samengestelde premiumverhalen en meer dan 9000 tijdschriften en kranten.
Bent u al abonnee? Aanmelden
MEER VERHALEN VAN Shooting Times & Country

Shooting Times & Country
United we stand
Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors
5 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
3 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
They're not always as easy as they seem
While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort
5 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
Debutant gundogs
There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting
4 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
When the going gets rough
Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique
5 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make
4 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
A step too far?
Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work
6 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
Two bucks before breakfast
A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem
6 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
Stalking Diary
Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill
2 mins
August 02, 2023

Shooting Times & Country
Gamekeeper
Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside
3 mins
August 02, 2023
Translate
Change font size