The connection between the British royal family and field sports is long and illustrious and, happily, permeates down to this year of our late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee. The royal estate at Sandringham has borne witness to many great sporting days, as has Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.
Extending to 55,000 acres, and with grouse moors, deerstalking and salmon angling, the Balmoral Estate is a perfect highland microcosm and is rich in species synonymous with the Caledonian pine forest. At its heart is the River Dee, over which the royal estate holds an impressive 16 miles of fishing.
“The Dee was running unusually low for late April”
It was with considerable good fortune that I received an invitation to cast a fly for a salmon on this very water, on the opening day, under the guidance of Balmoral head gillie David Fernie. On meeting
