Number crunching

Any time spent in autumn woodland is a time to savour, but nothing beats being beneath the turning leaves during the dying hours of daylight. Nature seems to cast a spell over the woods as the sun starts to sink and the magical atmosphere stirs wildlife into a frenzy of activity.

In an effort to drive down numbers of grey squirrels in my locality, I shoot hundreds of these destructive rodents every year. The vast majority of my annual haul is taken during the last hour or two before nightfall, when the bark-stripping fiends are by far the most active.

My latest foray was an opportunistic session squeezed in between work and dinner with friends. I didn’t