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ORKNEY’S DAWN PATROL


ing; in singles at first and then in small groups, more frequently as the darkness intensified. We blasted away but duck move deceptively quickly, and I was also adjusting to using an over-and- under shotgun for the first time (although it was a 12-bore Beretta, like my own). Every so often there would be a splash as one of the three guns downed a bird, although soon we could hear the duck arriving but could barely see them. That’s the point at which the geese – larger


and thus still shootable despite the lack of light – started arriving in such huge numbers that Patrick could scarcely contain himself. At one stage a mass of between 200-300 greylags descended at once, a number so large that we (completely predictably) missed them all. Yet throughout the next hour there was a steady attrition rate amongst the arriving birds to the point where I had used up all 50 cartridges I’d been allocated, something which I’d joked before we left could never happen. At the end of the drive we’d downed 19 duck, eight geese (including my left-and-right) and Charlie was no longer a goose virgin. What a night! One of the best so far this year, said Patrick. If we shot with the eagerness of hungry peas-


ants desperate for a goose supper, we dined like lords thanks to Jean-Baptiste Bady, the former head chef at Kinnaird, and saluted our haul with a few late drams. Does life get much better than this, we asked ourselves. The answer was yes. Despite a porridge-fuelled dawn start, the morning shoot was even more


Top (l-r): The writer, Patrick Lloyd and Charlie MacLean with our moonlit bag. Above: Balfour Castle.


FIELD


FACTS Balfour Castle, Shapinsay, Orkney KW17 2DY. Tel: 01856 711282 www.balfour castle.co.uk


spectacular. By the time we bumped across the field to our allotted ditch, Karl had laid out the goose decoys and placed comfy folding chairs into the ditch. We didn’t have long to wait as the wind whipped over our heads, and within minutes we were back into it again. This time it was pretty much a geese-only party, punctuated by a few pigeon. I’ve never had such hot barrels while wildfowling but the geese came in waves and kept coming. By the end of hostilities, 18 geese, two pigeon and a crow were in the back of the Argo. As we headed back to Edinburgh, I felt almost


sorry for Charlie. Taking part in such luxurious and exhilarating wildfowling was like shooting an imperial on your first stalk, catching a salmon on your opening cast, or winning the jackpot on your first slottie – it’s unforgettable, but an expe- rience that you are unlikely to ever replicate. But what a way for him to lose his goose virginity; and what a blast for the rest of us.


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