Had a marvellous day's shooting on Wednesday. Eight guns at Catton Hall in Derbyshire for a mixed day at partridge and pheasant. The wind has been pretty good this week in the UK and on this day the birds were getting up and blasting away on it, which of course made for some exciting and very tricky shooting.

We were very well looked after by our hosts, whose family have owned Catton since 1405 (see http://www.catton-hall.com/index.php?page=alias). Mick Walton is the head keeper and he is the fourth generation of his family on the estate.

I was fortunate to have the most wonderful third stand, the birds belting out of a strip wood above me, some very high, all very fast! It was one of those memorable times when you can replay almost the entire drive in your head and continue to derive much pleasure from it.

We finished the day with a good bag of 133 pheasant and 59 partridge. But more than that, we had been very well looked after, enjoyed excellent company in beautiful surroundings and had great fun. In short, it was a capital day.

Tim

Couple of pictures here: My Photobucket Album