Written by a Winner of the Grand Grouse Draw Day.
One of the aspects of being a supporter of the GWCT is the fun of entering their draws. It is a way of supporting their work with the added spice of a chance to win exceptional days in the field.
I had bought tickets for a day’s driven grouse shooting for many years so when the phone rang to inform me I was a winner I thought it was a wind up by one of my friends, luckily it was not.
After a frustrating wait for two seasons, as grouse stocks were low, myself and 8 of my shooting friends gathered on the Burncastle beat in the Lammermuir Hills. The weather was perfect as Craig Dickman, the ‘keeper, introduced us to our loaders and gave us a briefing.
Driving up into the hills was a revelation as the vastness of the landscape opened before us. We lined up in very well built butts and waited for the beaters to take a very wide sweep to encourage the grouse towards us. Neither I or my friends had shot driven grouse before and the first few birds were a revelation, twisting and turning they materialised in front of us at tremendous speed and were gone by the time I turned round.
Craig treated us to two more drives before we assembled for a sumptuous lunch in the lodge nestling in the hills. The afternoon saw the forecast showers sweep in from the west but this in no way dampened our spirits as we enjoyed two more drives before leaving the hill with many memories and photographs to show our grandchildren.
The bag of 32.5 brace was exactly what we had hoped for and gave us all scope for future bragging. Marlies and Alistair from the GWCT were there to take samples from the bag for worm burdens and louping ill.
Many thanks to His Grace, the Duke of Northumberland for donating this superb prize which raised much needed funds for the GWCT; an organisation that does so much to counter ill-informed criticism with scientific facts.
Take part in a GWCT Raffle