Reversal of fortune

As I write this on a late November evening, August feels a very long time ago. Regular readers may remember that back then I was in the midst of a journey to become a part-time gamekeeper at the helm of a syndicate (Keeping the faith, 28 August). At that point, the poults had begun settling in at Beech Farm and I was nervously hoping for a good season. Any keeper will tell you that lots can and often does go wrong and our shoot was never going to be any exception to that.

I am fortunate in that I get to share the keepering load with my good friend Dave Atkinson, and the two of us have worked well as a team since we began this venture in March. However, even with two ‘keepers’ in attendance, our pheasants were still inclined to venture further