Read this article with great interest. Where to begin. Firstly, anyone, with or without a shotgun in hand (ie, owns a shotgun certificate) threatening another person can/and should have their shotgun certificate revoked, which means they cannot legally own a shotgun or firearm (most gamekeepers have a firearm certificate for rifles, which is for pest control). Secondly, the gamekeeper/farmer will not place his phessie pens in convenient places for access, they will be in convenient places for shooting. They buy the young birds "poults" and raise them in pens. Upon maturity, this time of year ladies and gents, the are "fed in" to "cover crops" or wooded areas. The reason for this is two fold, these areas are usually on top of hills, in woods or other areas of "cover". On shoot days, the surrounding hedges etc are "beaten" into the cover crop or wood and then they are "beaten" out of "cover", towards the guns, who are usually/but not always lower down, so the birds get height. It's very dangerous to shoot "low" birds, so the idea is to get them "up". They also "feed them in" to these areas to keep them on their land. Once a phessie (or patridge) has landed off the shoot land, it's no longer their property. It could well land on another shoot, yippee for them eh, which could well be only a few fields away (I have come across shoots that purposely set up next to big shoots to steal birds). Which is probably why they get so irate about their phessies being chased. How to recognise a cover crop - at this time of year it's quite simple, field with a corner of tall standing crop in it, probably maize (sweetcorn to the uninitiated). Sometimes artichokes etc, tall crops, wheat, etc, that kind of thing. It won't be a field full of crop - just a corner of a field, usually/but not always an elevated site. However, there are still full fields of maize standing at the moment - these are for "whole crop" nothing to do with shooting. They are there for winter feed for animals and will be harvested next month. I always put my dog on a lead when I see cover crops, holding pens and through the woods this time of year. Recognise them and learn your environment.
The attitude "without all the hand outs they get from the public purse" does not help one bit. Whatsoever. Farmers are "subsidised". They are "subsidised" to produce crops that we need, which are not necessarily the most profitable crops to grow. They are "subsidised" to have set aside for wildlife, corridors of green, usually a 10 m fringe on each field. Obviously if you're in the Fens and your field is 50 acres, then that's not much is it. If your field is 10 acres, and there's a 10 m boundary, it soon adds up. Farmers are "subsidised" to keep this land for wildlife, wildflowers etc. They are also "subsidised" to keep our food prices low. Without it you could increase your food bill considerably, without it, you wouldn't have the choice of weather to buy British as there would be no dairy industry left in the UK. Without it you would have no choice than to eat cheap, unregulated, foreign food that does not have the traceability, hygiene, welfare and surety that UK produced products do and, to be honest, it is precisely that attitude that makes farmers very anti "townies", which basically translated, is someone who has absolutely no understanding of how the countryside works and just wants somewhere to walk their dog at the weekends.
Should you come across your local farmers, take the time to talk to them, learn about what they do, which land is theirs. You'll find once you show an interest it becomes a mutually beneficial relationship. I am fortunate enough to know all the farmers on the land I walk on. If there's something wrong, ie stock has got out or someone's left a gate open, they know I'll put the stock back where it should be and close the gate. In return, I get to wander way off the footpaths, picking mushrooms, blackberries and sloes as I go. It is a relationship based on mutual respect and benefit and it works well once you put a bit of effort in.
