Tom and Azina decide to have a refurb.
The decorators abseil in with a new nesting box and new spy-ware; now there are two cameras with higher resolution, one watching the ledge and another inside the nesting box.
Not all birds are so lucky. Growing up in Ireland my principal quarry was the wood pigeon, very plentiful in those days and unpopular with farmers. There are two ways to shoot pigeons: over decoys and flighting as they fly to roost. If I may digress, my grandfather gave me a Game Book for Christmas in 1967, when I was thirteen. I had just gone to Eton and I imagine my contemporaries shot stags, grouse, ptarmigan, partridge and pheasant. I recorded my bag for January 1968: 4 blackbirds, 1 moorhen, 1 pigeon and 1 squirrel.
But back to pigeon. As far as I can see my record bag was in December 1973 at Mountainstown in Co Meath where I accounted for 18 and commented: “fair but warm wind, in a bog by a rubbish tip”. By then I was using my grandfather’s Valmet, over-and-under 12 bore made in Finland. In 1975 he gave me an over-and-under 12 bore made in Spain by AYA. It did not improve my aim. I don’t blame the gun.
My grandfather often spoke of Archie Coats, a Major in the Scots Guards retd who unusually was a professional pigeon shot. He also was a senior instructor at the West London Shooting School where I met him reminiscing in the club house. If you want to cover your costs as a professional shot accuracy is important. One day, decoying pigeons, he accounted for 550 birds and fired 650 cartridges. Why do I remember him after so many years? One of his older brothers is Peter Coats, long-time companion of Chips Channon, whose autobiography I’m enjoying.
The West London Shooting School operated from a rifle range by the current Overground line opposite Whitley’s Depository. The site is now occupied by the Tesco superstore. I was put up for membership by a retired naval Captain for 2.2 range rifle shooting, but wasn’t able to take up the membership. But I enjoyed my few trips there. Edward