Red Grouse at Hadrian's Wall
You’re immersed in history when visiting this part of England. The Romans were here two thousand years ago, the invading Normans put up castles a thousand years later—after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We were at Hadrian’s Wall; about the farthest north the Romans were able to conquer when they moved into the British Isles in the first century. They built the eighty mile long, twelve feet high, Hadrian’s Wall, from coast to coast—to keep their neighbors out.
Son Russell and I were there to shoot red grouse at moors named Muggleswick and East Allenheads. The United Kingdom is the only place in the world that red grouse live and we believe that the northern part of England is the very best place to go for them.
We had flown into London and relaxed for a couple of days, visiting with the folks at Purdey and Boss—and walking in Hyde Park. Then we rented a car and drove north to a place called Naworth Castle, just south of the border with Scotland. This is a real castle, made of stone with very high ceilings and a dining room 100 feet in length.
Red grouse are typically driven to the shooters by a line of “beaters” with dogs. The birds fly about eyeball high and divide left or right—or both, just as they arrive at the shooting butts (blinds). The flocks arrive in small groups of 10-20 birds. They fly low and fast and are the fastest of game birds—70 miles per hour. Add a tail wind of 15-20 miles per hour and you have a serious “fast ball of feathers,” for a shooter more used to a 50-mph clay pigeon.
It seems that each year I must re-learn just how fast these grouse fly. Always swing from the hips is great advice, but my hips don’t seem to understand 85 miles per hour. Finding myself behind the bird, just before the shot, my arms take over to finish the swing, pulling my face off the stock and of course messing up the lead. Then, of course there is foot position; as the flock comes in, I am positioned for a shot out front, but invariably the shot is left or right and my feet are pointed in the wrong direction. Foot position is also very important—as I re-learn! Well, there’s always “next year”!