Custodians of the Countryside
- Hunting with the Duke of Beaufort & the Warwickshire Hounds -
Standing on top of the Warwickshire hills, with the sun streaming through the wintered leafless trees and glistening over the hedges, the air is still, I can see my breath. I wait with Mr David Bragg who started hunting when he was ten years old – now an octogenarian, we wait for the Warwickshire Hounds to pass by hoping, that they do, “One can never really tell which way they will be coming, you get an idea of the area they will be covering but it is really wait and see”, he tells me as we look towards the railway line, a deep cover, prime for a fox to hide.
One can almost forget that the reason for the walk up the hill, through the brambles, down across an empty stream, and up over to these woods is for the Warwickshire Hounds to pass us by. I knew very little about Fox hunting, coming from London, a vegetarian (well I used to be), I knew that the Fox Hunting ban had caused a considerable amount of discord amongst the city versus the country dwellers. I thought they said it was cruel to the foxes and the hounds (with the ‘Stop animal cruelty’ slogan fixed in my mind), I thought that it was just a sport – well that was then, how wrong I have been how wrong indeed.
“I saw the hounds go past me and the horses behind and that was that, I wanted to join in” Mr David Bragg explains. Mr Brag has such fabulous and poignant memories, explaining the duties of each of the members of the hunt, ‘whips’ and ‘Field Masters’ all with relevant jobs to do, to ensure the hounds do their job. But it is the sense of community that I feel has grabbed me. Very kindly is introducing me to a side of the countryside I really knew little about.
We have created this landscape from which we provide livestock and crops to feed our nation, we have re-created hedgerows and forests to allow natural habitats, we have shaped the land of which we now have. Part of this natural selection, this, contribution to the natural world is to ensure the livestock are safe, safe from disease and depletion. We need to keep check on the landscape, to see it keeps the growth and works with the seasons, we as the custodian of the countryside have a responsibility do this, it is only fair seeing as we re-shaped to make it our own. A balanced countryside will not result from simply leaving it well alone. The hunting communities act like the water preservation teams, who ensure our water is safe, the hunting communities are some of the only people that actually utilise every aspect of the natural landscape, they have the ability to report back on the conservation of wildlife, simply by their virtue in numbers and commitment.
This is where hunting with hounds comes in, this is where, I think are so many ridiculous misconceptions towards what has been ‘told as correct’ by the Government with such disregard to the actual reason for hunting with hounds in the first place.
I have found from the Veterinary Association of Wildlife Management and other such associations a number of key facts which I found rather interesting to help put my thoughts to you.
For a start 90% or more of hunting takes place on private land. People said “Oh it rakes up our countryside it ruins our hedges and fences” This week, when I was planning to come and take photographs, I had to seek permission with the private landowners (admittedly the hunt secretary asked them for me). The hunts I visited this week all took place on private land. (Next week and the week after would be the same case – all private land).
Secondly, cruelty to the fox? where do I begin?
“The kill is almost instantaneous and certain through destruction of the neck and thorax made possible by the considerable power weight ratio the hound has over the fox. But the actual cause of death is largely academic what is important is how quick and how certain. The subsequent dismemberment of the carcass, if it occurs, may not be a pretty sight but it is of no consequence to the dead animal.” VAWM
“Huntsmen exercise remarkable control over their hounds and are entirely capable of stopping or diverting the whole pack during a hunt. It is further remarkable how foxhounds, for example, will ignore other forms of wildlife such as deer, pheasants or hares, when drawing coverts. Nevertheless regrettable accidents do occasionally occur but the charge that hounds are largely out of control when hunting is without foundation.” VAWM
Whilst on my ventures out with the Duke of Beaufort and the Warwickshire Hounds that there were horses waiting in certain areas marking out territories to wave off the Hounds and move them elsewhere, in one case with the Warwickshire Hounds, I saw a baby deer, not to be hunted, the hounds were re-directed across the woods. I also saw the chaps in the quad bike (who were opening and closing gates to the private fields) wait by an inlet. If the fox were to run in there, it would be sure to provide the hounds with a scent and an easy catch, so the chaps were hovering over the inlet to ensure the fox would go elsewhere and have a decent chance if he was healthy.
“Terrier work and digging out of foxes is an integral part of hunting and an essential and humane component of pest control, equally or more humane than trapping or shooting since it is certain. It is the only method of control that can dispatch wounded or diseased foxes that will naturally seek sanctuary below ground. And fit and healthy foxes that are inadvertently flushed out (bolted) and hunted above ground will prove their fitness and health (and often do so) by evading the hounds in the process of natural selection.” VAWM
Hunting takes place in a closed season: It allows the natural birthing processes and as hunting with hounds is scent based, it will not smell a pregnant fox. Shooting it with sight from a distance however, one cannot tell if it is pregnant, or if it is a clean shot, therefore potentially allowing an injured pregnant fox to be hovering around causing spreading rabies. I would like to point out that foxes are hunted because they love to get at sheep, spread disease and cause havoc to our lifeline of the countryside which we have reshaped.
Some anti-hunt protestors say that we ought to let the natural world just exist and we ought to not do anything about it, let the foxes live, don’t harm the animals. As an ex-vegetarian, I think I might have thought something along those lines, let us all live in this world harmoniously side by side. But I think I was more concerned with where my meat was coming from rather than letting it live, all the talk of antibiotics in supermarket chickens, and chemicals in animal food – yes, my vegetarianism was more for the actual welfare of the animal, but I digress, some anti-hunt protestors are protesting really for the wrong reason, or rather for the wrong group of hunters. They ought to be spending their time lobbying for the shooting of foxes not the hunting of foxes with hounds. Surely they want to eat naturally produced carrots, potatoes, and brussel sprouts without the thought of being grown only in poly-tunnels and unnatural environments because there are too many foxes have a good go at them first.
The rules of the law have been over the past few years slightly misunderstood: Captain Ian Farquhar the Hunt Master at the Duke of Beaufort hunt would like to repeal the current act, “Have you seen the act? Apart from it being exceedingly badly written, it states conditions such as, “The third condition is that the stalking or flushing out does not involve the use of more than two dogs…The hunting of rats is exempt if it takes place on land — Flushing a wild mammal from cover is exempt hunting if undertaken — for the purpose of enabling a bird of prey to hunt the wild mammal….” It really makes no sense to the welfare of the countryside at all, it was written in a hurry and is doing more damage to the countryside and to the fox than good.”
When Captain Farquhar started to explain the ‘rules’ to me I found it all rather ridiculous, was I being stupid? So I looked up the current act and indeed found myself in utter bemusement. I found the sentence “A person commits an offence if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog, unless his hunting is exempt.” (items such as his own land, animal is injured… less than two dogs at a time…)
I also looked up the websites of the Anti –hunt league where it said the following; “Up and down the country, illegal hunting activity is taking place. The League is appealing for your support to help protect the animals affected and bring the law breakers to justice……It’s a sad fact that protecting innocent animals comes at a high price”. Do the Anti – hunt league, know that hunting is made with a trail these days? Have they noticed the amount of injured foxes by guns alone? Actually, I wonder if anyone is actually protesting these days?
The other day whilst on the Duke of Beaufort hunt, near Cirencester, Jo Aldridge introduces me to almost everyone. In fact, if we had time, I would have been introduced to everyone, villagers, farmers, local ladies and gentleman who, come out to see the hunt. Some follow on foot and some by quad bike and some by car, stopping along the roads with binoculars. The hunt has a general set out area and as Mr Bragg says, “You really have to wait and see where they turn up”.
The Duke of Beaufort hounds have been existence for 57 generations. Hounds have been kennelled at Badminton since 1640. Sixteen forty! Hunting has been working the countryside since sixteen forty. Now, the longevity doesn’t say that it is right or wrong? But it does say that it has maintained the landscape and the community for all that time. Surely, this is a key point?
The community that surrounds the hunt is varied, farmers, land owners, bankers, bar staff, farriers, school teachers. To ride a horse, yes indeed one does require a sum to know how to ride a horse and to rent or own one, but that aside, the community that envelopes the hunt is warming, everyone is involved.
The day is fuelled with picnics, a flask of tea, the riders have rum.
“The tradition of drinks, you know, at the start of the meet, is not simply a ‘boosey’ start to the day,” Captain Farquhar begins, “it was originally when huntsman would arrive on horseback from some distance, across fields, even before they begin for the day, to warm their bones” remarks Captain Farquhar, “Now, when we all arrive with our horse boxes, it does seem a good idea, warm you up for the cold day ahead of you!”
Finally, I share a pie and an apple with Mr Bragg on top of the Warwickshire hills looking, for a sound of the horns and scurry of hounds, we head off towards a gateway, where we find a Huntswoman waiting for the pack, I set myself behind the gate and hope to steal some photographs, I had almost forgotten to do just that, I was learning too much about the land in which I live. The walk is certainly keeping us fit. I can still see my breath, yes, I am still breathing.
I must admit, I at first did not know why people would actually ‘follow’ a hunt, but by the end of the afternoon, I asked when the next one was. The walk ‘did me good’ and I think accompanying Mr Bragg did him ‘good’ too.
Yes, a sense of community and the preservation of the countryside are two realisations that I hope my photographs will show on my days out with the Duke of Beaufort and the Warwickshire Hounds.
My photographs will soon be on the BBC news in Pictures website and of course as always on my own website
Thank you to The Duke of Beaufort and the Warwickshire Hounds for allowing me to spend a rather educational and inspirational day out with them both.
