Rough round the edges

Nick Ridley and friends head to familiar territory in Worcestershire to give their dogs, young and old, a workout. At least, that was the plan

Alow winter sun, not a single cloud in a bright blue sky and no breeze at all… it was a gamekeeper’s nightmare. Despite these unpropitious conditions, our spirits were high as we pulled into the yard of New Farm.

My small rough-shooting syndicate, the COT, has been shooting at this particular farm, near Evesham, for the past five years. Despite this, we still had a little bit of trouble finding the location. We were not helped by the fact that I had set the map app on my phone to walking mode, something that my fellow Guns would remind me of more than once.

Our host for the day in Worcestershire was Labrador trainer Norman Onens of Kestrelway Gundogs. After a much-needed coffee, we got suited and booted and headed off to the shoot.

Norman has leased the ground for the past 10 years but a change in ownership meant that this was the last season he would have the shooting rights.

This is a shame as it is perfect spaniel ground, with plenty of rough grass and young plantations.

We had three young cockers with us and the cover was just right to encourage the dogs to get their noses down without being too thick, which can discourage an inexperienced dog.

Our team consisted of five Guns: Graham Watkins, Sporting Gun’s gundog trainer; his daughter Phoebe with her little cocker Roo; Paul Bagnall; Sporting Gun editor Matt Clark; and me with my two cockers, harry and Ted. Norman had been persuaded to bring along his gun and Freddy, his field trial champion Labrador, who was due to be running in the International Gundog League Retriever Championship the following week.

It was a good opportunity for some last-minute training but it also meant we had an experienced dog to back up the youngsters. The previous

“The cover was just right to encourage young dogs to get their noses down”