From the gun shop

The Editor’s pick of the latest and best shooting kit to hit the market

Cotton cashmere cable jumper

RRP: £129.95 schoffelcountry.com

Great for both casual and smart days, this jumper is made from a blend of cashmere and cotton. It features a quarter zip down the front and its ribbed hem and neckline make for the classic country look. Available in a variety of colours and in sizes S-3XL.

Saint Hubert rifle slip

RRP: £180

Browning.eu

This slip’s exterior is brown leather and it can fit any rifle up to 124cm — with a scope attached to it. The interior is lined with thick foam for protection and it comes with a double zip for padlock use as well. It is a great accessory to take with you the next time you head out for a roebuck.

Tasco Sportsman 3-9x50

RRP: £88 edgarbrothers.com

Waterproof, shockproof and fogproof, this scope is one of the best additions to your rifle on the market. The anti-reflection fully coated lens draws in the light required for use in challenging times of the day, such as at dawn or dusk or under heavy canopies.

Katmai anorak

RRP: £269 sasta.fi

You can wear this technical outdoor anorak all year round. It features an adjustable protective hood, a long zippered front pocket and two buttoned side pockets for radios or valuables. The hem is adjustable and the cuffs can be tightened with Velcro. The anorak is waterproof and PFC free.

It is available in a variety of colours and in sizes XXS-3XL.

Chameau-lite LCX stalking boot RRP: £299 lechameau.com

Developed to be the lightest hunting boot on the market, these are guaranteed to be waterproof as well as breathable for maximum wearability. They are exceptionally hard-wearing and the comfortable outsole offers flexibility and good grip in the most demanding terrain.

Those words, if anyone decided to take Natural England (NE) to court for the way it has handled licensing for the management of various species over the years, would, to my mind, be entirely justified.

It has been one debacle after another. It is supposed to consult with interested parties before any change in the licensing requirements. It has now failed to do so on more than one occasion, from the days years ago when it changed the licensing requirements for controlling woodpigeon, to gull and corvid control.

It seems to have completely forgotten what these sites were designated for — certain species of birds, especially waders.

I am aware we are leaving Europe, but these are EU designated sites, the very best there are, and NE is at a real risk of downgrading the bird populations on them by reducing the managers’ ability to control the birds and mammals that predate the species they were notified for.

At the time of writing, NE has not issued a single one of the individual licences applied for to control certain species on notified sites, so keepers will not be allowed to control gulls and corvids.

If you add the fact that NE issued permission for a damaging operation on a notified site in Teesdale last year during the breeding season, when curlew still had young on the ground, it is a pretty sad state of affairs. It allowed a landscapescale art exhibit called Hush on a Site of

Special Scientific Interest (Upland Keeper, 28 August 2019). Has NE now reached the point that you could say it is no longer fit for purpose since it appears to be unable to carry out its statutory duty with any level of competence?

On a different matter, it did occur to me that Wild Justice might like to train its guns on activities in a far-off land in the hope that it might just save some species from extinction and, in the process, help the human population from the same fate. I am, of course, referring to China where the almost Middle Ages-style markets would appear to have inflicted yet another plague on us. I once read what was quoted as an old Chinese proverb: “A mistake is not a mistake unless you repeat it.” They have made a couple now because this is about the third one of these that has appeared to have come from its culinary practices.

Wild Justice might also like to try to stop the trade in animals, whole and in parts, heading for China before the already illegal trade renders some of them extinct — something that legal big-game hunting will not do because it is in the interests of those who do it to retain the species. There is a certain irony there as governments are keen to be seen to stop some things, such as big-game hunting, and turn a blind eye to others, the trade in animals to eat in China.

If Wild Justice were to do that, rather than trying to use the law to stop pheasant and other shooting in this country, I suspect it might get rather more respect from many of the population; after all, we are not in any danger of rendering grouse or pheasants extinct — exactly the opposite.

SNP sport

When is a business not a business? When it’s in Scotland and it is run for sporting purposes. I can only presume that Nicola Sturgeon has forgotten where the Scottish National Party gained its first foothold in Scotland when she decided to stab the sporting businesses in the back by saying they were not eligible for rate relief during the current crisis.

Their base was those who live in the countryside, and it is now those same people she is discriminating against by doing this. If it is aimed at landowners she has missed the target. Many of those businesses she has hit are run by ordinary people, including many former gamekeepers who pay their taxes and are making a living for themselves and not costing the country a penny. She may like to reflect on what happened to the Labour Party when they lost sight of where they came from.

“Natural England has not issued a single licence for notified sites so keepers will not be allowed to control corvids”