I was talking to the owner of a lovely farming and shooting estate in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, just to the north of Salisbury. Some wandering-syndicate friends of mine had kindly included me in a day’s partridge shooting at the end of October.
The estate shoots partridges from September onwards and then also includes pheasant drives in November and December. Interestingly, the owner said that he doesn’t sell shooting in January, but keeps the end-of-season shooting for his family and friends.
He feels that the number of birds available in January are not sufficient for the estate to provide the quality of shooting that he would like to offer, and the uncertainties of the weather at
