The Metropolitan Police’s head of firearms licensing – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 62

UK shooting and countryside groups are joining forces to commission new research into the economic, environmental and social value of shooting. BASC, Countryside Alliance, the National Gamekeepers Organisation, the Moorland Association and the Gun Trade Association are among those involved in the survey. They are calling on shooters to take part. The independent research specialists, Cognisense, will obtain facts and figures which will reflect the importance of shooting in the UK. The previous report in 2014 revealed at least 600,000 people in the UK shoot live quarry, clay pigeons or targets. The value of shooting was worth £2 billion to the UK economy. The new report will be published in 2023. BASC's Caroline Bedell explains the survey to Charlie Jacoby at the Carter Jonas Game Fair theatre 2022. For the survey, go to ValueOfShooting.co.uk For more podcast links, visit Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast67 

In September 2004, eight campaigners broke in to the chamber of the House of Commons to protest against Tony Blair's ban on hunting with hounds. Blair was ignoring the largest ever peacetime march, more than 400,000 people, who marched on Westminster in 2002 protesting against the same law. Blair's ban, which came into force in 2005, has achieved the opposite of what blair hoped. It has damaged animal welfare and hunting is more popular than ever. At the 2022 Game Fair, six members of the Westminster Eight come to the Carter Jonas Game Fair Theatre to relive that day. They tell Charlie Jacoby the story of what happened and the repercussions. For more, visit Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast66    

The antis brought in bills to restrict hunting in England, Wales and Scotland – but none of them work. So they want to bring in new bills. Ed Swales from Hunting Kind explains the challenges facing hunting with hounds in Scotland and Northern Ireland. For more, go to Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast65

A panel of experts discuss grouse prospects for the 2022 season, plus the political threats facing grouseshooting. They are Mark Osborne from William Powell Sporting, Andrew Fallows from Carter Jonas and Adrian Blackmore from the Countryside Alliance.   For more ways to listen to this, visit Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast64

Chris Horne from GunsOnPegs presents the findings of the GunsOnPegs Game Shooting Census 2022/23. It’s going to be a tough year for gameshooting in the UK, with bird flu hitting bird imports, and hard on the heels of two years of lost bookings because of covid. Chris explains the numbers to Charlie. For more ways to listen to this, visit Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast63 

There are 30,000 legal gun-owners in London.  Chris Downs, head of SCO 19 at the Met, and Daryn Hufton-Rees from Medcert, which provides medical certificates to shooters who need them for shotgun and firearm certificates, explain to Charlie what’s going on with firearms licensing in the capital. For more ways to listen to this, visit Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast62

Shadow food, farming and fisheries minister and Labour MP for Cambridge Daniel Zeichner makes the case for a Labour government running the countryside and being a force for good for countrysports. It’s an uphill task. He won’t repeal Tony Blair’s foxhunting ban but he says he and his Labour colleagues are happy to work with countryside organisations. He addresses the charge that Labour can’t see beyond gun-ownership. For more ways to listen to this, visit https://Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast61

Nigel Farage may be passionate about Europe but he is fundamentalist about bluefin tuna fishing. He says that, thanks to Brexit, the UK is able to develop its own bluefin sport fishing business.  He explains the thrill of catching Britain’s most significant big game fish, which you can now do in a limited number of boats out of Cornish ports, fishing tag-and-release. It’s not just fishing. Nigel speaks up for taking the opportunity to set fire to European regulations. He wants to see a rethink on the ban on lead shot.  Above all, he tells country people to put pressure on the government. “I am struck that while there are still millions of us engaged in angling and shooting, we don’t have many political champions.” It’s not just government. “We have got to deal with the RSPB who appear to have completely lost their marbles,” he says.  Nigel praises Donald Trump as a peacekeeper - and speaks to   Nigel predicts a Liz Truss win, though he doubts she will taker the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights. For more ways to listen to this, visit https://Fcha.nl/fieldsportschannelpodcast60

Jodie Case is an owl nut. Representing the Owl Box Initiative, she brings an owl box to the stage of the Carter Jonas Game Fair Theatre. She explains how to make the ideal owl box, to attract owls to your garden, plus talks about her work researching owls.  For more, go to @OwlBoxInit and @JCaseNature Find out about the OBI on the GWCT website

A discussion on what makes the perfect holiday letting business with Charlie Jacoby in the Carter Jonas Game Fair Theatre: Andrew Fallows of Carter Jonas advises landowners and farmers on how to diversify – and the rediscovery of UK holidays by locked-down Brits means he has never been business, Meanwhile, Ashley Vellacott turned his Somerset farm into a holiday accommodation enterprise, with his wife, Jess, running the lettings business Sleeps12.com for both his and now other holiday lets.  For more from Andrew and Carter Jonas, go to CarterJonas.co.uk For more about Ashley’s business, go to Sleeps12.com