Six days until Christmas!!! I'm no humbug…but to me that means 45 days until the end of the UK shooting season. Where has this season gone? It doesn’t seem more than a month ago that we were up on the Moors for the Glorious 12th shooting Grouse, the “King” of British game birds.
Having weathered a thousand storms and foot after foot of mud, in what has to be the wettest shooting season I can remember in my 22 years as an agent, we have just over a month to go. The truth is that, although wet, it has so far been a very successful season with a moderate population of grouse to harvest, strong partridges during September and October when the winds were not always kind and plentiful Pheasants during November and December. Given the numbers we are still seeing, means they held extremely well during the Autumn when wandering is generally at its worst. Despite the inclement weather, and I hate to tempt fate, but so far this season we have had no cancellations due to adverse weather and any foggy mornings have generally cleared to allow teams to achieve their anticipated bag. So, despite the rain we have plenty to be grateful for.
The Royal Berkshire Sporting Agency team have a busy January ahead with nearly 30 days to host up and down the UK as well as some Spanish shoots also starting to feature. We are still taking bookings for Spain for this season (the Spanish season runs up to the end of March and even into April on the island of Mallorca) so if you would like to extend your season beyond February 1st and enjoy some sun….do speak to us and we will be able to arrange a truly memorable trip.
Although we have a busy January ahead, we are already starting to plan next year’s shoot diary. The better shoots always get booked early and each year this seems happen earlier and earlier. When I first started as a sporting agent (all those years ago) I would never dreamed of approaching a client to offer a days shooting before the end of the season. Now, if we don’t actively start organising our days in January or earlier, we risk not securing the days we require on the chosen estates. So please do bear this in mind and equally do telephone us if we can offer you any advice. Equally, please bear in mind that we also cater for single guns and smaller groups as, this season, Ben has organised 8 roving days for individuals. These days have proved very popular and so we plan do more of them next season.
So, on behalf of the RBSA team, I wish you a happy Christmas and a good finish to your season.
Gordon Robinson
01491 672 918 Gordon@rbss.co.uk - Ben@rbss.co.uk