RICHARD NEGUS IS A PROFESSIONAL HEDGE LAYER AND WRITER. HE IS A KEEN WILDFOWLER AND HAS A PASSION FOR GREY PARTRIDGES
A knot spotlighted the precise moment I realised my son had morphed from boy to embryonic man. For the past seven years, our angling adventures have always been conducted on a pupil and teacher basis. During that period he’s learned to cast, to be patient, to handle fish and return them with care or bash them accurately on the head. For those unfortunates in the latter category, Charlie had mastered the art of gutting, filleting and smoking. He knew how to flick a dry fly and sink a spider, he could ledger and he could trot. Yet for all of