It's another beautiful October morning and we're back at Llchweddygarth shoot in Snowdonia.
Now, it's a magnificent day. Nice bright sun in the
sky, a little bit windy, but it's dry perfect conditions of shooting towering
pheasant and partridge. We're very lucky to be able to stay last night at Palais
Hall an AAA 5 red star resort. Beautiful Victorian Chateau, outstanding service
hospitality, beautifully appointed and great food. Just the way to get started before a hectic day shooting.
First drive didn't really go for me, plenty of birds coming out, but
unfortunately the wind through this valley has changed directions and is going and heading
towards my opposite guns on the far side. But, it still only the first drive
magnificent conditions, a great team of guns, it's Adam's birthday today, so
we should have a bit of fun making fun of him and getting a little bit tipsy
towards the end of the day and all in all it looks to be a great day in the making.
So, that was Ridgeback and I have to say what a magnificent drive. Of course it's
a little bit quiet for me on the first drive plenty birds coming out just the
wind wasn't right for us, it's just the way it works, it's the luck of the draw.
But, here number two peg for some reason managed to get right in front of the
line right at the head of the drive, right in the valley in front of me and
it was just incredible. The wind was coming straight into our face as soon
the birds got up caught that wind and they came down like rockets and there
really was something for everyone there. For the high bird specialist down at the
valley below here they must have had some of the most incredible shooting I
think I've ever seen. The birds they were far too good for me, this is exactly the
right spot for me, an absolutely magnificent drive and a great way to
start filling my boots today. You can see the work that these guys put in the
beaters have come from miles, all the way across this land. It's really hilly, lots
of heavy bracken and the dogs have worked magnificently and how they manage
to control that really slow, steady consistent stream of birds
it really is breathtaking keeping. So, really excited shots and fantastic birds
and can't wait to get back and share my tales of merrymaking with the guys back
in the bus. So, yeah well done Llchweddygarth, absolutely fantastic
So, I'm Martin Lott, the shoot manager at the Llchweddygarth shoot. This morning has
gone very well we started at Bracken Bank, which is one of the most
long-established drives on the estate and then we've moved up to the Ridgeback,
which is one of our new drives around the corner up there and yeah it's done
very well, happy team of guns, so all good.
We created the Ridgeback this year as a brand new drive, it's basically a very
steep gully and we line the guns up along the bottom and we push the birds
back down the valley where we've got a large release pen just below us down here. So, yeah very good drive.
So we're just finishing elevenses in one of our
new chalets that we built this year, because we're trying to promote more of
a full day out rather than just come in to shoot the birds and then we're going
to head down back past the main hall, to Ayoka, which is one of the most famous drives and see how the team get on there.
We've just finished the day on a drive known as the Ayoka, it's one of my favourite
drives here so far, the number times that have been here and shot. It's gallery
shooting, so you can see how your neighbour guns are doing and end of the drive go up
and wide a few of them off about how many misses that we've actually had,
which no doubt I'll be the bust of most of those jokes.It's a
beautiful drive with some seriously testing birds, they really did get the
better on me with that one. But, that's what we're here for, we're not here to shoot
averaged stuff, we're here to shoot the very best, the best sporting birds
and I think we all came to do that. The team of guns have been awesome, great fun
lots of banter, which is for me makes up 99% of the day. The weather's been lovely,
held off a little bit windy and I think everybody's left today or will leave
today having shot some very, very memorable birds. It's been a magnificent
day, the hospitality by Martin and his team has been outstanding the food, the
catering from the chef's has been world-class and it just sort of adds
that little something extra to a day's shooting it's what people come to these
places for, it's not all about the shooting it's the hospitality, it's the
scenery and the team, the gamekeepers, the beaters have worked no end today to show
some incredible stuff for us, so thanks to them as well.
So, we did four drives today at Llchweddygarth, the weather conditions were tough
with the sun mainly behind a lot of our drives where the birds wanted to fly, but
the second and third drive were awesome and then we put on a bit of a showpiece
at the end there just to keep the guns happy. The typography benefits us hugely,
however on windy days on sunny days it can work against you, you know if you're
in a flat field with a woodland and a cover crop the pheasants can't really go
anywhere, whereas up here because the the height of the birds they can find a way
out of the drive if they want to, but we've got so many drives here that you
can always pick one that's favoured in the wind. There is something up here for
everybody, we do specialise in high birds, however if I don't think that that's
your bag we consume the drives that cater for it, but the challenge of
birds that come off some of the topography up here we've been compared
with one of the best estates in the UK at the moment, so just let it continue.