Small bags and big appetites
Mary Bremner joins chef Jamie Ellis, who is serving up a treat of a shoot in Shropshire for its first season
Shropshire is renowned for its goodquality shooting. There are many large, commercial shoots – often on big country estates – putting on big days and charging big bucks. But the county is not all about big bags; there are many smaller shoots run by one-man bands and it was one of these that we joined.
Ellesmere is a small market town near Oswestry in the north of the county, close to the Welsh border. Head a few miles out of town and you are into rural Shropshire. This is where we met Jamie Ellis, who is just coming to the end of his first season running his own shoot. Jamie was brought up shooting, helping his taid (Welsh for grandfather), who ran a small syndicate in mid Wales, from the age of five.
“I helped him with the feeding and dayto-day running of the shoot. When I was 16, I was given my first gun and joined the syndicate. There were 14 of us in the shoot and we all helped run it; feeding, predator control, maintenance, etc. I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it,” he explains.
Wanderlust
Jamie was interested in catering, too, but left college after a year. “I thought I’d learn more on the job.” He did, becoming a head chef aged 21. He also indulged his wanderlust, travelling, working and cooking in Australia and New Zealand before returning to Shropshire 18 months ago, taking on a head chef role in Oswestry.
Before going on his travels he spent time beating and picking-up at Lyneal Wood Farm. On his return, he heard that the shoot had folded a few years earlier. He approached the owners, Rob and Charlie Timmis, suggesting he took on the shoot. “They said ‘yes’ and have been incredibly supportive. They are very easy-going, great to get on with and happy to let me use the Gator and loader to take straw out to the rides, which I really appreciate.”
He agreed a rent of two days’ shooting for the family and set about building up a small shoot. There had been no shooting on the farm for four years, so he had to start from scratch. The shoot covers 650 acres, is mainly flat, open land with the odd coppice and small wood. He spent time planning drives and controlling predators before putting down 1,250 birds, partridge and pheasant, and selling days. He has now quit his job to run the shoot and also does the catering on a larger shoot, Llanforda, three days a week.
I joined Jamie on his 10th day of the season in mid-january. He had already held a 100-bird day and five 80-bird days. “I didn’t plan anything for January as I wasn’t sure how our first season would go, but there are plenty of birds left so today is going to be a 50-bird day and then we will hold two more 30-bird days, clearing up.”
He used Facebook to advertise his shoot and old friends – and new – popped up and snapped up his days. Henry Rook has been helping him plan the shoot and is now acting as shoot captain.
Predators
Predators are a big problem on the shoot. Jamie shot five foxes the night before we visited and has shot 38 since July. This part of Shropshire is big hunting country and the shoot shares its land with both the Wynnstay and the North Shropshire. Jamie has come to an agreement with both hunts and a mutual respect means they work well together, after a few initial hiccups.
Because the farm has many large drains and ditches, Jamie also has to contend with mink and polecats, which are constantly being trapped; 12 mink have been caught since July. This season there is only one cover crop of maize but many more are going to be sown this spring. Henry and Jamie are also planning to build release pens and are getting the chainsaw out to clear drives in the woods. This means that Jamie will be able
“He turned out to be a bit of a bird magnet as he was in prime position”
to put down more birds so will be able to offer more days, and larger ones, if required.
Next season he is starting a syndicate, which will shoot eight 80-bird days. He will also have two let days (£34 a bird) as well as the two family days. Interest in the syndicate is high and places are being snapped up.
Today there were nine Guns shooting with a 10th acting as a floater. There was a goodsized team of beaters, many of them keepers on nearby shoots. A strong team of pickersup were also out, many of whom regularly pick-up on some of the larger commercial shoots in the county. Support for Jamie is strong and he is getting enthusiastic backing from the local shooting community.
The chef
But there is another reason for all this enthusiasm: Jamie’s cooking. He combines his love – and expertise – of food with his passion for shooting and serves the Guns and his team with some excellent elevenses. He uses the game he shoots, which everyone devoured in record time. Jamie is up at 5.30 in the morning on shoot days to prepare the food.
The pheasant and pork Scotch eggs merit a special mention as they were delicious, as were the pheasant and partridge goujons. The combination of spices used made for some of the best I’ve tasted. Then there was pork pie, sausage rolls, scones with jam and cream and a lemon drizzle cake, kindly contributed by Henry’s mum.
Everyone – Guns, pickers-up and beaters – congregated in the shoot room, with the wood burner roaring away, after the second drive, ready to be rejuvenated by Jamie’s tasty fare and to place their numbers for a sweepstake. Jamie puts himself under a great deal of pressure as he always provides at least one hot offering on every shoot; today, there were two. Jamie had the deep-fat fryer on the go and turned out the food in minutes. Not a scrap was left as the team showed their approval by leaving clean plates all round.
Strong birds
But back to the shooting. The weather was perfect: dry, mainly cloudy with a slight breeze that got stronger as the day went on. It was unseasonably mild for January. The first drive, The Gorse, was the largest of the day and produced some excellent birds that flew above the trees. The first pheasant that flew out was a good, high bird, ably taken by one of the Guns farther down the line. This set a precedent for the rest of the drive. Good, strong-flying birds were put up by an excellent beating team, supervised by Jamie. Kevin Sunderland, who is normally out picking-up with his 10 spaniels rather than shooting, shot some excellent birds and was definitely in the hot seat. He turned out to be a bit of a bird magnet as he was in prime position again on the next drive, Black Trees. One of his fellow Guns suggested Kevin’s eye was in because: “He’s wearing new breeks; we all need breeks like Kevin’s, he’s got the magic ones.” Kevin and a couple of friends had travelled from Staffordshire, while three of the other Guns had come from Cheshire. All were shooting at Lyneal Wood Farm for the first time and were most impressed.
As we headed back for our elevenses after the second drive, there was a bit of drama when one of the Guns started driving across the field. Jamie yelled at him to stop, as the ground, despite looking dry, was wet underneath. The truck got stuck, as had a Land Rover the day before. Everyone got
it and pushed the truck out. They’d earned their elevenses.
I joined Henry in the woods for the third drive, Long Meadow. This proved to be demanding shooting, snap shooting at its best. It was hard to spot the birds and Henry then had seconds to mount the gun and get a shot off. He did well. On this drive, James Broadbent got his third jay of the day and Andrew Brown shot a white pheasant. This meant that all the Guns had to pay a £5 fine. Much laughter and joshing ensued.
Tea and cake
The fourth drive, Felled Wood, produced some fast flying partridge and some excellent retrieves. We headed back to the shoot room for tea and cake while the beating team started walking-in the final drive. I joined James Barnett for Adam’s Wood, which was just behind the farmyard. James had been allowed a day off school to shoot and was rewarded with an excellent partridge early in the drive. A woodcock flew out of the wood, but was left by the Guns.
And then the day was over. It had been tremendous, with much fun and laughter, excellent shooting and delicious food. Exactly what a good shooting day should be. The bag had been reached and braces were given out, the remaining birds to be used by Jamie. It was good to see and fun to be part of it.