Cocking Shoot West Sussex
Ahead, lies a day of high birds and good humour.
The jovial gathering bubbles with anticipation as Clive Fowler, responsible for marshalling the guns, announces the first drive: The Bumps. A tangible ripple of anticipation reverberates among the merry band.
“The birds are challenging here. They spit out high from the apex of the ridge then hug the contours, descending rapidly. It’s a very testing first drive,” remarks host the Hon Charles Pearson, who rents Cocking Shoot in West Sussex from his brother, the 4th Viscount Cowdray.
As we debus, we cast our eyes skyward, tracking the line of the steeply rising woodland clinging precariously to the face of the escarpment. Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach takes a deep breath and asks, with a degree of trepidation: “Is my peg at the top?” Major David Waterhouse replies, “Yes. You’re going to need oxygen.”
“‘Is my peg at the top?’‘Yes, you are going to need oxygen’”
Fortunately, for Schwarzenbach, he’s stationed at the
