Taking it on the chin

My great friend, Alex Keeble, who writes the Gamekeeper column for Shooting Timesis blessed with classic old beech woods. Ever since I first visited him on the estate he works on, the huge tall spinneys dotted around the rolling country have never been far from my mind. Regular readers may remember a feature last year when we had a real red-letter day at Alex’s due to a hefty beechmast crop. Once again this year the woodland floor lay thick with mast and, as a result, Alex’s spot was like a sweet shop full to bursting with children who have been released after lockdown. When pigeon find beechmast they can become addicted to it; obsessed to a level of greed.