The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind needs little introduction as the former Defence then Foreign Secretary who went on to chair the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament that oversees…
Features
Field Interview Teresa Dent
The GWCT is headquartered just outside the charming Georgian town of Fordingbridge, untouched by Starbucks or Costa. Once this backwater might have been appropriate for the GWCT but today the…
The GWCT Partridge Count Scheme
My father remembers wild grey partridges regularly bursting from cover and spooking his horse as he hacked home from days with the Hampshire hunt in the early 1960s. I’m sure…
Tea and its origins
The English are not the world’s greatest tea drinkers. This came as something of a surprise to me, having grown up in a house where tea was mainlined from morning…
Sashes (and how to correctly wear them)
When it comes to dressing for a special occasion, few things are more princely, impressive – or mystifying — than sashes. Whether worn at a Royal (or Disney) wedding, a…
The folly of follies
What is a folly? At times it seems as though there are as many definitions as there are follies themselves. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as: ‘A costly ornamental…
How to choose the best gundog for partridges
For wild greys and redlegs, you need a worker that’s keen, thorough and won’t mind the brambles. So which is the best gundog for partridges? Alec Marsh finds out…
The garron – the workhorse of the Highlands
The garron pony is as much a symbol of Scotland’s sporting heritage as it is a modern working animal, doughtily getting to places that the Argo can’t reach, and a…
Blackcock leks – a spectacular spectacle
My visit to the northern Pennines begins with a magical mystery tour of a grouse moor in Upper Teesdale that is home to a staggering variety of birdlife including the…
Why moorland is a matter for us all
Beneath a cloudless azure sky on the Lancashire moorland, not far from an abandoned stone barn, a diurnal short-eared or ‘bog’ owl is clapping its wings 50 feet above the…