Well on Tuesday I received a phone call from the Secretary asking me if I’d like a run in the Spaniel Club Novice Cocker at Stiperstones. I was a little surprised, as I was number 25 as a non-member entry so quickly confirmed with my boss I could have a days leave and confirmed I’d take the run, I was to run at number 7.

The alarm went off at 4:30am on Wednesday morning and I was beginning to regret saying yes! Nevertheless, I loaded up the car and begun the 180 mile journey to Shropshire at 5:20am. The meet was at 9am for a 9:30 start, and the sat nav was saying that my journey time was 3 hours 39 minutes. If I’d have known how long it would actually have taken me I wouldn’t have stopped at Greggs at the service station for a bacon buttie! I hit standing traffic around Warrington/Liverpool on the M6 and again on the A49. My estimated time of arrival had shifted from 8:50 to 9:28! Shocker!!!

I tried to contact the secretary but there was no signal, tried Darren Skidmore who was also running, no answer!!! By this point I just thought get the foot down and hope they don’t start without me. I finally arrived at 9:30am but was told by Steve Russell not to worry, given how far I’d come they were going to give me until 10am if needs be. Quickly laced the boots up and let Fern out to clean herself and away we went.

Started in a fairly open section of woodland with bracken and bramble for cover and it wasn’t too long before the first dogs were into game. I was soon backing up and unfortunately the dog which was running got put out for running in, I was up!

I was in under Steve Bolton who immediately put me at ease and explained what he wanted to see and where to aim with the dog. I cast fern off into some light bracken and bramble and she was going really nicely, probably the best she’s hunted in any of the trial so far, not pulling, covering her ground nicely and I started to feel relaxed. She got into a thick bracken pile to my right and had a lovely contact flush on a cock bird which made its way right to left across the line but was unfortunately missed. I’d instinctively blown the stop whistle on the flush, I really need to stop doing that.

I cast her off again and she indicated a bird in a thick bracken pile, I pushed her in and out came another cock bird, which she was steady to……until it came down. Another over enthusiastic retrieve putting us out of the trial. Balls.

I got some good feedback from Steve, and James Starkey gave some nice feedback. Interestingly both suggested getting rid of the silent whistle I was using, as Steve put it: “when the blood’s pumping, she won’t take a bit of notice of that”. So that’s something I might consider.

Overall it was half expected. I’ve been gearing her up for a trial next week, and hadn’t shot over her since the last trial due to work, but it was an enjoyable day out. I’ve another trial next week with both Fern and Ria, my other novice dog, so a couple of days training this weekend will hopefully straighten her out. Admittedly I don’t think I shoot enough over her in a trial style situation, most of the time it’s on my own and she’s is normally steady, it just seems that when the bloods pumping, jealousy of other dogs around etc she seems to crack. Back to the drawing board but roll on next week!

Well today was our second trial in 3 days. I competed with Fern in the Lancashire and Merseyside Novice AV Trial at Lupton. A short journey compared to our other trials, a mere 45 minutes away, at the very least I’d have a shorter drive home to sulk during than my last two trials.

I was in at number 3, under Adrian Slater, and was immediately backing up in the wood in which the trial started. A couple of pheasants flushed on the other side within the first 50 metres or so and a hen bird was shot and hit but glided well back. I couldn’t see much of the other side but there was a flush and retrieve on our side and it wasn’t long before I was up.

Before I even had chance to remove the lead Adrian asked me to follow him and we were going to try on a runner that the dog on the other side couldn’t find. I cast Fern out into the area but she didn’t come back with anything, tried again and still nothing. Both judges went out to the area and luckily for my mate Steve Rogers and me no bird was found.

Back to my side and I cast Fern off hunting. She was hunting nicely, ideal cover with brambles and stick piles in the bottom of the wood. She was taking her ground in nicely and with pace, I was enjoying being behind her. We were approaching the end of the wood and I could see the cover was starting to get a little more sparse and that birds were heading to the end where there was a dry stone wall stopping them from flipping out over onto the fell. At this point Fern started to pull a bit on the scent and she was getting harder to control, a couple of recall whistles kept her within range.

She flushed two birds which were shot at but missed, and then flushed a single, another pair and then 3 more when we were almost against the wall. Unfortunately none of these birds were shot at and I felt I’d missed 4 ideal opportunities for a retrieve. Fern had been sat after her last flush for a minute or so and when I was asked to cast her off for the last ten yards of the wood she squeaked. I was gutted. She hasn’t done it before and in hindsight I should have pipped her back towards me rather than casting her from where she was. I think the frustration and number of flushes she’d had with no retrieves had sent her over the edge. Possibly two trials in three days were too much for a young dog too.

Never mind, we’ll try again soon. Got some good comments from the game carriers, but just wasn’t good enough today.

After a 4am start and a 150 mile 3 hour drive, I took part in the Gwynedd Novice Cocker Trial at Teddesley Park. Arrived and exercised the dogs before waiting for the instructions about where we were going etc before jumping into the vehicle and driving to where the trial was to be held.

I was in at Number 1, and after my first ever trial a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t as nervous as last time out. At first it looked as if we were going to be starting in a bracken-bottomed wood, ideal ground, however we bypassed this and ended up in a field of canary grass. I had to ask the keeper what this stuff was as we don’t have it up here in Cumbria!! Fern looked at me as if to say “What the hell is this Dad?” I was a little worried about this stuff as not only would it have been nigh on impossible for me and the dog to mark a fallen bird, but it was very difficult to see the dog working and she could have easily gone AWOL. I was in under Ralph Edwards and he told me to cast her off, I needn’t have worried, she ploughed through the grass and kept within sight and earshot. It was handy she was smashing through it so fast, as I was able to track her by sound rather than sight. We ran through the canary grass until the end of the field, a run of 10 minutes or so, with not a bird in sight for either myself or number 2. I wasn’t too disappointed by that as a retrieve could have proven to be very difficult.

We were then told we were going back to where we had came from and we going into the bracken-bottomed wood. I cast her off and she was immediately into the brambles, bracken and rhododendron bushes that were interspersed throughout the wood. There were a couple of deep gulley traversing the wood, and I had to pull the judge out of one of them on the way! Fern was going well and after approximately 20 minutes the judge pulled us up. Being new to the trialling game I immediately thought “balls, what have I done wrong?” However, Ralph said it wasn’t my fault, there was no game and I was just going to run the dog into the ground. He commented that I’d got good marks for her hunting but I needed to get a flush and retrieve on the other side. My run finished approximately 10 past ten and I tried to relax, before my second run which turned out to be at approximately 1:30pm.

Game was absent until around 12 when the first dogs had flushes at the end of the wood where I had begun. We then moved to a strip of game crop where the dogs were immediately into game, and then onto another felled wood which led into another bracken-bottomed wood. Game supply was the limiting factor for a few dogs, with a couple having two blank runs, however, we hit a bit of game just as I was backing up.

I was in for my second run under James Luxford who made me feel at ease. Fern had had a long wait so I wasn’t sure how she’d go. Cast her off into some thick bramble and shrubs and she immediately flushed two pheasants, of which a hen bird was shot in front. Ralph Edwards had marked the fall and James asked me to call my dog out from where she was and send her from where we were. I was relieved at this as there was no way she would have marked it from inside the wall of bramble.

I cast her out and she took a good line, she was a bit to the right so I stopped her and cast her into the wind towards the bird which had fallen further into the wood in thick cover. At that point I just had to leave her to it and hope she’d use her own head/nose to find it. After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was 15 seconds or so, James told me she had it and was on her way back. Quick pip on the whistle to let her know where I was as I still couldn’t see her, hands out wide and in she came. Hen bird delivered to hand and I was chuffed. I’d got the flush and retrieve I needed.

I thought that may have been me, given the lack of game, but James wanted to see a bit more of her hunting as the cover had been so dense. Cast her off again and after about 50 yards she started pulling, I knew there was something about. Next minute she flushed a cock bird and sat. The gun shot it and it was a runner, I could just see the left wing bend up as the bird hit the floor. It hit the ground about 30 yards out and immediately jumped up and ran. Before I was asked to send her she decided she knew best and that bird needed to be retrieved. I can’t repeat the words I uttered under my breath! That was my run over.

Left the line gutted, knowing I had had a good first run and had got the all important flush and retrieve on my second run. I spoke to the judges at the end and they gave me good feedback and complimented Fern on how she’d worked. Similar to my first run a couple of weeks ago, temptation had got the better of her and she flicked me the V! Up until she was put out, she was on an A and an A-, 1st and 2nd finished on two As, so I wasn’t far away, which made the 3 hour drive home even more unbearable.

We’ll try again tomorrow, running in the Lancs and Merseyside AV novice, hopefully it’s third time lucky!