A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



The Tollerton Hall estate, belonging to 

 Mr. W. E. Burnside, furnishes some 1,200 acres 

 of shooting, of which only about a dozen acres 

 are covert. A few pheasants are, however, 

 reared annually and these are spread over the 

 estate, providing a little sport all through the 

 season. 



Partridges vary a good deal, but in a good 

 season a hundred brace or so can be killed with- 

 out overtaxing the stock. Woodcock are rare, 

 and no more than one or two stray specimens are 

 killed in the course of the year. Hares are fairly 

 numerous, the season's bag sometimes totalling a 

 hundred, but they are not so plentiful as before 

 the Ground Game Act was passed. Considering 

 the small amount of covert, rabbits must be con- 

 sidered plentiful, and during the past ten years 

 there has been no great diminution in numbers. 

 There is a little ground suitable for snipe and 

 wild-fowl, about twenty to forty couple of the 

 latter being bagged in a season. A couple of 

 bags obtained within the past twelve years may 

 be given to show the results by comparison of a 

 good season and a bad one. The year 1897 

 was a good one for game, the season's bag 

 being made up as follows : Pheasants, 204 ; 

 partridges, 185 ; woodcock, 2 ; wild-fowl, 33 ; 



hares, 127 ; rabbits, 1,405. Total, 1,956 head. 

 The year 1907 was a poor one for game 

 generally, but wild-fowl did well and rabbits 

 showed no great decrease in numbers. The bag 

 was : Pheasants, 106 ; partridges, 9 ; woodcock, 

 I ; wild-fowl, 66 ; hares, 41 ; rabbits, 1,202. 

 Total, 1,425 head. 



On Lord Middleton's estate at Wollaton Park 

 some remarkable bags used to be obtained some 

 twenty years ago, details of which, unfortunately, 

 are not forthcoming at this date. The shooting 

 consists of 1,100 acres, the greater proportion of 

 which is nowadays laid down to grass and there- 

 fore yields no great head of partridges. Consider- 

 ing that there is a comparatively small acreage 

 of covert and rough land suitable for pheasants 

 the results must be considered very good 

 indeed, for only great care and very favour- 

 able conditions could yield a bag of between 

 500 and 600 pheasants in a season without the 

 assistance of hand-rearing. All the birds shot 

 at Wollaton are wild. Partridges are usually 

 driven, and a few red-legged birds are occasionally 

 bagged. Woodcock are rare, but there are a 

 few snipe and wild-fowl. A recent bag, which 

 may be taken as being typical of what the 

 estate can produce in an average season, is as 

 follows : Pheasants, 552 ; partridge;, 102 ; 

 woodcock, 4 ; wild duck, 42 ; snipe, 3 ; hares, 

 57 ; rabbits, 1,263 ; wood pigeons, 50 ; various, 

 100. Total, 2,173 head. 



One of the best sporting estates for its size is 

 that of Blyth Hall near Rotherham, on the 

 Yorkshire boundary, owned by Major Willie. 

 There are only 200 acres of covert, but nearly a 



thousand pheasants have been killed here in a 

 season, many of them, of course, being hand- 

 reared birds. Partridges also do well, and are 

 usually driven. Twenty brace of imported Hun- 

 garian birds were turned down a few years ago. 



Woodcock are not numerous, but there is a nice 

 sprinkling of these sporting birds in most seasons,, 

 and six or eight couple is not an unusual total for 

 the year. The marsh, which is not more than 

 30 acres in extent, yields a remarkable quantity 

 of snipe for its size. The birds breed here irk 

 considerable numbers, and a great many more, 

 the head keeper states, could be killed if desired. 

 As it is, twenty-five couple is by no means an 

 unusual bag, and as many as two hundred couple 

 of duck have been shot in a season. Ground 

 game is fairly plentiful, the annual bag of rabbits 

 running well into four figures, while hares also 

 represent a respectable total in the game-book. 

 An average season's bag is made up, in round 

 numbers, as follows: Pheasants, 900 ; partridges, 

 600 ; woodcock, 12 ; wild duck and other fowl, 

 400; snipe, 50; hares, 200; rabbits, 1,500. 

 Total, 3,662 head. 



Not very much shooting is done on Viscount 

 Gal way's property at Serlby Hall. A few 

 pheasants are reared, and partridges, which have 

 improved in numbers during the past few years, 

 are usually bagged by driving. The land is very 

 suitable for game, and if there were fewer foxes 

 good bags of partridges might be obtained. 

 Some woodcock are shot every season, but, as- 

 elsewhere in the county, they are not common. 



Foxes also have a good deal of influence in 

 the matter of sport with the gun in the Worksop- 

 district, as Mr. H. V. Machin's keeper at Gate- 

 ford Hill observes with some regret. The season 

 of 1907 was a particularly poor one in this neigh- 

 bourhood, and very little shooting was done. 



Mr. W. Denison, upon whose property the 

 once well-known Ossington Decoy 4 was situated, 

 does a good deal of shooting on his estate, which 

 is situated between Newark and Tuxford. The 

 property is capable of carrying a head of 1,500 to 

 1, 800 pheasants, and it has been the custom to- 

 rear anything up to these numbers for some years 

 past. The soil is clay, and therefore not entirely 

 suited to partridges, of which, however, as many 

 as 500 brace can be killed in a good season. 

 Mr. Denison says that the ground is not well 

 adapted for driving, but as he does not care for 

 walking up he only adopts the modern method. 

 Hares, which at one time used to be very plenti- 

 ful, are now to be found only in moderate 

 numbers, and none are shot unless they are 

 specially wanted. Rabbits are numerous in woods 

 and hedges, the average season's bag being from 

 3,000 head upwards. There are a few wood- 

 cock, but in most seasons they are scarce. Wild- 

 fowl are not so plentiful since the decoy, which 







* See below under " Decoys." 



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