I've had some updated pictures of Ferns pups and they look like they're turning out to be crackers. here's Amberquest Cookie Monster at Tagkai who's just 5 months old And here's Amberquest Clio
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On Thursday I took part in the North West Counties Field Trial Association Novice Cocker Stake at HyFly game hatcheries in Lancashire. I’d heard that the open trial held the previous day had been full of game and scenting conditions were very difficult so I was anticipating a tough trial. After the raffle had been drawn and the judges and guns had been introduced we made the short car journey to where the trial was to begin in a field of sugar beet with a number of partridge pens running along it’s centre.
The first two dogs were underway and it was a matter of seconds before they hit game, it looked like the trial was to be much the same as the open stake the day before. However, it later turned out that game was much harder to come by, certainly in quantity, and a number of dogs had quite long runs. There were a couple of eliminations in the sugar beet and from the birds that were being picked it was obvious that scenting conditions hadn’t improved from the previous day. As I was running at number 7 I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was called to back up. At the end of the sugar beet we moved into a piece of scrubland with white grass, reeds, bramble etc and I was backing up. Number 5 was put out for failing to pick a bird and I was called up to run under Edward Martin. I had a thickish patch of grass and reeds etc to run in and it wasn’t long before I had a flush on a pheasant poult which Fern sat to nicely. We carried on and reached the end of the patch before turning right handed into more thick cover alongside a pond. Fern was working the margins of the pond and was steady when a dozen or so duck got up from beside her which weren’t shot at over the water. We carried on and Fern was smashing through the cover, a couple of times she had to have second attempts to break through thick walls of brambles and sticky buds. She again flushed a pheasant poult which couldn’t be shot at because of the season not starting for another few weeks and at this point I noticed she was blowing a bit with the relatively long run and the heat. We’d come in from the open cover crop into a patch surrounded by trees and there was very little breeze, I was hoping my run would be over soon. We were approaching a partridge pen at the end of the cover we were working and a covey of partridges got up and flew forward towards a wood approximately 20 yards in front. One was shot by a gun on the other side and Anita Jones’ dog was tried on it but failed to pick it. I was called over and given a mark where the bird was, across a little ditch and sat in a small hollow at the base of a couple of trees. I cast Fern back and she worked the area, almost trampling on the bird, but didn’t pick it. A couple of directions later and she finally picked it. I didn’t realise scenting would be that difficult. She delivered to hand nicely and that was my first run over with, with Edward saying she was a very nice dog. Looking at the card, I knew it wouldn’t be too long before I was called back in as the even numbered dogs had fallen rapidly in numbers. I was soon backing up in another field of long thick grass and it wasn’t long before I was called up to run under Joe Hipwell. Game at this point had become a little scarce so I was hoping for a quick find and retrieve. I should be so lucky!! We worked the whole length of the field before we finally got a flush at the end of a small covey of birds which weren’t shot at by the guns, I couldn’t believe it. We then dropped down into another field and continued our run in even thicker cover. Fern was making a good attempt at hunting it out when a pheasant poult and a couple of partridge got up from the other side. The pheasant flew directly over Fern and I kept an eye on her to make sure she didn’t move, whilst on the other side a partridge had been shot approximately 40 yards out in front. Steve Brewer was tried on it from the other side but his dog couldn’t pick it. At this point I thought I’d be called over closer to where Steve was, however I was given a mark to try my dog on from where I was, maybe 50-60 yards. It certainly looked a long way through the thick cover. It took me a few attempts to get Fern into the area but she returned with nothing and when the judges went out and picked the bird that was my run done. Joe said it was bad luck and that she’d had an excellent run. I was gutted and frustrated, I’d seen other dogs on the day be taken closer to the fall as second dog down. I’m not saying Fern would have picked it as scenting was poor and it had fallen in some tall thick cover, but it’d have been nice to have been taken a bit closer. On coming back to the gallery Will Clulee and Anita Jones both commented that it was too far for a novice trial, I don’t get much luck! A few more dogs had their final runs and there was to be a run off between John Bailey and Anita Jones’ 2nd dog before the trial was declared over. It was back to the cars and back to the original meeting point for the presentations (detailed below). Only 5 dogs had finished the trial and with names like Will Clulee, Anita Jones, Richard Claydon, James Luxford etc you know it’d been a tough trial. I spoke with Joe and Edward to get some feedback who said she’d had excellent runs and I’d have been in the run off with John and Anita if she hadn’t have gone out on that retrieve which made it even worse. 1st: John Bailey with Fernmoss Gold Dust Of Gournaycourt in its first trial 2nd: Anita Jones with Episcopi Wonga 3rd: Paul Seaman with Dakotagun Bilbo Ben of Pixiefen 4th : Wayne Parrington with Whitebeam Frost Pocket COM: Ken Gaskell with Lisburne Judy Yesterday I took part in the Yorkshire Sporting Spaniel Novice Cocker Stake on the Westerdale and Rosedale Estate in North Yorkshire. I’d travelled over the night before to do a bit of training and was booked into a B&B a few miles from the trial ground which meant I’d be getting a lie in for once!
How wrong was I? I was awake at work time just after 5am and struggled to get back to sleep, knowing I couldn’t have my fried breakfast until 8am. I got up and exercised all the dogs before munching my way through my brekkie before heading to the meeting point at a pub right on top of the North York Moors. After collecting armbands and getting the briefing off the club and the keepers etc, it was a short drive onto the moor to where the trial would begin. I was drawn number 13, unlucky for some, however Fern had been going really well in training and the night before I was probably the most happy I’ve ever been with how she went. The trial began in sieves, white grass, bracken and a few small patches of heather giving the dogs a chance to show themselves. There were a few long runs for the early dogs and it was getting progressively warmer as the sun got higher in the sky. There were some top names in the gallery and it was good to have a bit of craic and banter whilst waiting for our runs. Around 11am I was called in to back up behind Peter Avery at number 11 and it wasn’t long before judge Steve Russell shouted that we were changing dogs and I was in next. Derek Lee was stewarding on my side and he said the rabbits had been sitting quite tight so make sure I didn’t miss any as I walked over to Steve. I’ve met Steve a couple of times in the last year or so and he explained where my beat was etc before asking me to cast Fern off. Over the next few minutes of my run he was calling me Stewart. I didn’t correct him because I was so focused on the dog until he said “Your name is Stewart isn’t it?” I said “No Steve, it’s Scott but I didn’t want to correct you incase you marked me down” We both had a chuckle and a bit of banter throughout my run about it. Fern was going nicely, taking in ground on a backwind beat and working in towards me. We’d started in some sieves and bracken before it opened out a little into more white grass. We hunted for a while without a find when a rabbit was flushed and shot on the other side of the line. Steve was asked whether we wanted the retrieve and he did so I called Fern up and walked twenty yards or so over to try her on the rabbit. The rabbit was maybe 50-60 yards away on a sloping bank across a small gutter and a broken wall in front of me. I cast Fern out over the wall and gutter and she started to pull right slightly. I stopped her and cast her back towards the rabbit, and then she needed one more to get onto the line before picking the rabbit up and was on her way back. She put the rabbit down a couple of times on her way back to readjust it in her mouth but delivered to hand. They were changing dogs on the left so I had the opportunity to give Fern a quick drink as it was getting warmer still. We started again, this time in a thicker section of sieves and she soon flushed a rabbit which was shot out in the open around 20 yards. Steve told me to send her and she was straight out and back with it. That was my run done. I came out of the line and Derek and my mate Andy who was carrying the game bag said it’d be a nice tidy run. I quickly got some water and leftover breakfast sausages into Fern ahead of her second run as she blowing a bit with the heat and it’d been quite a long, stop-start run. The trial move ground a couple of times to different allotments of sieves and bracken etc with a few dogs going out for missing game or moving etc. The last allotment we were working through was on a gentle uphill slope with what looked like a biggish warren at the top. I was soon backing up Peter again and the nerves were starting to kick in. Peter got his flush and retrieve after a long run and I was in under David Sowerby who explained where we were heading. I cast Fern off and she was flying through the sieves and bracken needing very little whistle. It wasn’t long before she put a rabbit up which was shot maybe 25 yards up the slope near a wall. “Send your dog” and off Fern went, straight out and back with no handling. I cast her off again and she flushed another rabbit which was shot in roughly the same place. David asked Steve if he wanted the retrieve and Graeme West was brought over and picked it with little handling. We carried on and Fern went into a patch of high bracken and went up a gear. Out popped a rabbit and I instinctively blew the stop whistle as it ran forward. A split second later Ferns head popped out. I thought she was moving so I blew the whistle a second time, however by the time I’d blown it she was already sitting watching the rabbit away, she’d merely moved out of the bracken to see where it was going. After that David said that’ll do me and my run was over. I walked out and Derek and Andy Kirk said she’d gone really well and Derek asked me why the bloody hell I’d blown my whistle twice. I should have trusted the dog, but in that split second between seeing the rabbit and her head coming out of the bracken I made the decision to put a whistle in to make sure she didn’t move. There were only a couple of dogs left to run and it wasn’t long before the judges had declared the trial over after totting up their marks. I’d finished, I was over the moon. We got back to the cars and I gave Fern a drink and quickly exercised the other dogs before we were called over by the judges for the awards. They announced the COMs first and my name wasn’t called out, 4th is an improvement for me I thought. Then 4th was called and it wasn’t me either. Then 3rd and to my surprise that wasn’t me. At this point I was wondering whether I was not getting anything at all as I hadn’t expecting to be up there, and then my name was read out as being 2nd. I was chuffed to bits. The work and effort had finally paid off. I spoke with both Steve and David after the trial and they said the difference was readjusting on the retrieve and me putting the stop whistle in twice on the flush of the rabbit. It’s amazing how these little things can cost you in the long run. The trial was won by Will Clulee so I can’t complain really, a top handler with a good dog will always be hard to beat. The 3 and a quarter hour drive home seem to go much quicker than normal with lots of congratulatory calls and texts coming through. Full results: 1st – Trochry Tinker of Poolgreen – Will Clulee 2nd – Creechdale Phoebe of Amberquest – Scott Mossop 3rd - Dakotagun Bilboben of Pixiefen – Paul Seaman 4th – Poolgreen Bolton At Meldarly – Derek Lee (Handler Will Clulee) COMs Gunstone Clover – Tom Skelly Ribbleshead Vixen – Dereck Nichols Deepfleet Decus – Peter Avery Well this was our first trial of the season, the Tyne, Tees and Tweed Novice Cocker Trial at Stean, Yorkshire. Fern had been in kennels for the previous two and a half weeks preceding the trial, and I’d only had 5 days since getting back from holiday to refresh her training prior to the trial. Training had gone well and I was looking forward to the trial, hoping that she was fit enough to put two runs together.
The day began with sunshine with a little bit of cloud and was relatively warm and I was hoping for a couple of quick runs so that Ferns lack of fitness wouldn’t impact her performance too much. After a short, but uphill, walk to where we were to start the trial the first dogs were called into line. The trial was to be run under 4 judges, Malcom Taylor and Steve Charlton as the panel judges, and Mick Huitson and Jim O Connor and the non panel. There were some early flushes and the even numbered dogs seemed to be putting themselves out, mainly by missing game, the rabbits were sitting incredibly tight. Maybe they knew about the impending rain before we did. I’d conveniently given my waterproof jacket to my mate who was carrying the game back on the other side of the line!! I think by the time I was backing up at number 11, there were only around 7 dogs left in the trial. I was soon called into line and had a beat of thick sieves along side a dry stone wall to work. I cast Fern off and she was flying, head down tail going. She soon flushed her first rabbit which didn’t present a shot because of the thick sieves. We carried on and she started pulling me a bit, so I had to use the whistle a bit more than I would’ve liked to make sure she didn’t miss anything. Soon after that she went nose first into a patch of sieves and sat up, and out popped another rabbit, again not giving the guns an opportunity of a shot. We carried on and another rabbit got up but doubled back and didn’t present a shot. Gutted! We reached the end of the beat and Jim told me to call her into heel, we were going to walk back and do the beat alongside where we had just been. I cast her off and it was noticeable that she’d started bouncing through the thick stuff, she was tiring. Then I heard a splash as she fell into what I thought was a bog/gutter and was expecting her to pop back out covered in mud. Instead all I heard was whining and splashing. Me and Jim ran over to see her stuck in a deep hole full of water and she couldn’t get out. I reached down and pulled her out and sat her up, half expecting to be told to put my lead on as she’d whined. As Jim never said anything I cast her off, and she whined. Gutted!! Whether she was still stressed or worked up from falling in the hole I don’t know. I spoke to Jim and Malcom after the trial who said she’d been going really well. Malcom had me on an A run until she’d started tiring and bounced through the thick stuff which made it even harder to take. The trial continued, with dogs still going out for missing game until finally there were four dogs left and the last dog completed it’s run and the trial was declared over. The results were: 1st Hawksbeck Belle - Mr John Park 2nd Nicolas Golden Honey - Mr D Nichols 3rd Pinsarks Tacey - Mr Andy kirk C.o.M Northglen Gem - Mr Paul Stirzaker Fern has been confirmed in pup. They're due around the 14th April. If you're interested please get in touch
Fern (FTAW Creechdale Phoebe of Amberquest) has just been mated to this year's Cocker Championship winner FTCH Mallowdale Xfactor.
Hopefully we'll have some pups in 9 weeks time. If you'd like to be added to our puppy list please get in touch |
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